Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in Michigan

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$52,246

after federal, FICA and Michigan tax

Tax takes

$13,214

20.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$55,472

Michigan costs less than average

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

$65,460

Kept after tax

$52,246

Worth in national money

$55,472

State rank

22

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Neither high nor low. Michigan is 22 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $65,460. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
  • Against other work in Michigan, this sits in the middle: 187 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 $65,460 you keep $52,246, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,472 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $67,340, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Michigan ranks 22 of 51 for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses at $65,460. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
  • Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses ranks 187 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 licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses on $65,460 is $52,246. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,472 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 $67,340 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$56,160
Half earn under$65,460
Top tenth earn over$77,780
This salary$65,460

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

Compare with
+$2,531take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Michigan$52,246
Take-home in Texas$54,777
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$897

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

Moving to
$0now · $65,460$64,375
$64,375in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$62,310
You could take a cut of−$1,085
Prices in Texas97 vs 94

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $65,460 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $56,160 and the ninetieth is $77,780 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In Michigan the take-home figure of $52,246, from $65,460, 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 187 of 493 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $55,472, the adjusted value of that $65,460 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 187 of 493 locally.
  • The Michigan median of $65,460 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $56,160 to $77,780. 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 $52,246 from $65,460. 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 187 of 493 locally.
  • This $55,472 adjusted figure, worked from $65,460, 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 187 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 187 of 493 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $56,160 and the top tenth $77,780, so most people doing this work in Michigan sit within a fairly tight band.

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 $55,472 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, $52,246 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.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($56,160 to $77,780) 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 $55,472 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 $52,246 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.