Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,288
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$8,202
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,528
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
$44,490
Kept after tax
$36,288
Worth in national money
$38,528
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Michigan is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $44,490, ranking 49 of 51 states — about 8.4% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Michigan, this one sits low: 375 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $44,490 you keep $36,288 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $38,528 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $47,070, since top earners drag the number up.
- Michigan ranks 49 of 51 for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, with a median of $44,490 — about 8.4% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers occupies position 375 of 493 in Michigan's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Michigan is $36,288 after the full tax stack, from $44,490. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $38,528 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,070 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,010 |
| This salary | $44,490 |
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 | $36,288 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,928 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$502 |
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 | $42,449 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$607 |
| 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 inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Michigan earn under $44,490 and half over. The published range runs $34,240 at the tenth percentile to $64,010 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 $36,288, worked from $44,490. 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 375 of 493.
- Two cautions on $38,528, the adjusted value of that $44,490 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 375 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Michigan, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,240 to $64,010; 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 $36,288, on $44,490 for work ranking 375 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 375 of 493 in the state.
- This $38,528 adjusted figure, worked from $44,490, 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 375 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 375 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 $47,070 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,240 at the tenth percentile, $64,010 at the ninetieth.
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 $38,528 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $36,288 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $47,070. 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 ($34,240 to $64,010) 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 $38,528 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 $36,288 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.