Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Michigan

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,047
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$12,523
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,137
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
$62,570
Kept after tax
$50,047
Worth in national money
$53,137
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Michigan sits in the middle of the pack for earth drillers, except oil and gas. The median is $62,570, ranking 17 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Michigan, this sits in the middle: 213 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Michigan does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,570 you keep $50,047, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $53,137 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $65,160, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Michigan occupies the middle band for earth drillers, except oil and gas: a median of $62,570, ranking 17 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 213 of 493 occupations in Michigan by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Michigan income tax, retained pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas on $62,570 is $50,047. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $53,137 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 $65,160 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,470 |
| This salary | $62,570 |
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 | $50,047 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,455 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$843 |
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 | $59,573 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,019 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,570 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,710 and the ninetieth is $78,470 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Michigan the take-home figure of $50,047, from $62,570, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 213 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,137 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 213.
- The Michigan median of $62,570 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,710 to $78,470. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Michigan is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,047 from $62,570. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 213 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,137, worked from $62,570, 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 213 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $65,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $49,710 and the top tenth $78,470, so most people doing this work in Michigan sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Michigan is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $53,137 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Michigan's own levy, $50,047 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $65,160. 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 ($49,710 to $78,470) 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 $53,137 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 $50,047 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.