Light Truck Drivers in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,154
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$7,846
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,325
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
$43,000
Kept after tax
$35,154
Worth in national money
$37,325
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Michigan pays light truck drivers a middle wage of $43,000, 37 of 51 states and about 4.15% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Michigan this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, light truck drivers ranks 392. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,000 the take-home is $35,154; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $37,325 would nationally. The average comes to $46,720, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Michigan's $43,000 median for light truck drivers places it 37 of 51 states, about 4.15% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Michigan reports, light truck drivers ranks 392 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for light truck drivers in Michigan, on $43,000, is $35,154 — equivalent to $37,325 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 $46,720 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,460 |
| This salary | $43,000 |
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 | $35,154 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,731 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$474 |
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 | $41,038 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$573 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,000 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,470 and the ninetieth is $83,460 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Michigan the take-home figure of $35,154, from $43,000, 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 392 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 $37,325, the adjusted value of that $43,000 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 392 of 493 in the state.
- The Michigan median of $43,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,470 to $83,460. 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 $35,154 from $43,000. 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 392 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $37,325 — the adjusted value of that $43,000 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 392 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 $46,720, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $29,470, the highest tenth $83,460, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $37,325.
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, $35,154 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 $46,720. 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 ($29,470) and the ninetieth ($83,460) 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 $37,325 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 $35,154 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.