Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,370
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$16,710
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,036
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
$76,080
Kept after tax
$59,370
Worth in national money
$63,036
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Michigan is 33 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $76,080. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 143 among 493 occupations Michigan publishes pay for.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $76,080 the take-home is $59,370; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $63,036 would nationally. The average comes to $81,800, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Michigan ranks 33 of 51 for environmental scientists and specialists, including health at $76,080. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 143 of 493 in Michigan places environmental scientists and specialists, including health in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for environmental scientists and specialists, including health in Michigan, on $76,080, is $59,370 — equivalent to $63,036 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $81,800 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,770 |
| This salary | $76,080 |
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 | $59,370 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,352 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,129 |
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 | $71,840 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,560 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $76,080 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,300 and the ninetieth is $111,770 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Michigan the take-home figure of $59,370, from $76,080, 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 143 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $63,036, the adjusted value of that $76,080 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 143 of 493 in the state.
- The Michigan median of $76,080 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,300 to $111,770. 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 $59,370 from $76,080. 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 143 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $63,036 — the adjusted value of that $76,080 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 143 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 $81,800, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $52,300 and the top tenth $111,770 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $63,036.
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 $59,370 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 $81,800. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($52,300) and the ninetieth ($111,770) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $63,036 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 $59,370 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.