File Clerks in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,877
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$8,073
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,092
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
$43,950
Kept after tax
$35,877
Worth in national money
$38,092
State rank
20
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Michigan pays file clerks around $43,950 at the midpoint, 20 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Michigan publishes, file clerks lands at 387. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,950 the take-home is $35,877; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $38,092 would nationally. The average comes to $46,100, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For file clerks the Michigan median is $43,950, ranking 20 of 49 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 387 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.
- Post-tax income for file clerks in Michigan, on $43,950, is $35,877 — equivalent to $38,092 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 $46,100 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,900 |
| This salary | $43,950 |
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 | $35,877 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,494 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$492 |
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 | $41,937 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$595 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of file clerks in Michigan earn under $43,950 and half over. The published range runs $31,750 at the tenth percentile to $61,900 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Michigan's $35,877, worked from $43,950. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 387 of 493.
- Two cautions on $38,092, the adjusted value of that $43,950 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Michigan. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 387 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for file clerks in Michigan, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,750 to $61,900; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Michigan take-home of $35,877, on $43,950 for work ranking 387 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 387 of 493 in the state.
- This $38,092 adjusted figure, worked from $43,950, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 387 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 387 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 $46,100, 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 $31,750 at the bottom tenth to $61,900 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Michigan sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $38,092 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Michigan then takes its own share, leaving $35,877.
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 49 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 $46,100. 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 ($31,750 to $61,900) 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 $38,092 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 $35,877 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.