Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,558
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$4,832
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,136
Michigan costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Michigan — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$30,390
Kept after tax
$25,558
Worth in national money
$27,136
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Michigan pays this job around $30,390 at the midpoint, 23 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Michigan publishes, this job lands at 485. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Michigan does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $30,390 you keep $25,558, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $27,136 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $33,580, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers the Michigan median is $30,390, ranking 23 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Michigan, this work ranks 485 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Michigan income tax, retained pay for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers on $30,390 is $25,558. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $27,136 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $33,580 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $25,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,180 |
| This salary | $30,390 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Michigan | $25,558 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,598 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$236 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $29,095 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$285 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Michigan earn less than $30,390. The published range is $25,960 up to $44,180, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $25,558 take-home in Michigan comes from $30,390. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 485 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,136 uses one figure for the whole of Michigan. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 485.
- Reported values are medians; for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $25,960 to $44,180. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $25,558, from $30,390, assumes a single Michigan filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 485 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,136, worked from $30,390, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Michigan address, on work sitting at 485 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $33,580, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $25,960 at the bottom tenth to $44,180 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $27,136.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Michigan adds its own income tax on top — which is why $25,558 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Michigan is $33,580. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($25,960 to $44,180) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Michigan rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Michigan's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $27,136 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $25,558 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Michigan income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.