Machinists in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,277
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$10,083
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,887
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
$52,360
Kept after tax
$42,277
Worth in national money
$44,887
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Michigan is among the lower-paying states for machinists. The middle earner takes $52,360, ranking 45 of 51 states — about 10.88% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Michigan, this sits in the middle: 284 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 $52,360 you keep $42,277, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,887 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $55,240, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Michigan ranks 45 of 51 for machinists, with a median of $52,360 — about 10.88% 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.
- Machinists ranks 284 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 machinists on $52,360 is $42,277. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,887 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 $55,240 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Machinists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,330 |
| This salary | $52,360 |
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 | $42,277 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,251 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$650 |
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 | $49,903 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$787 |
| 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 machinists in Michigan earn under $52,360 and half over. The published range runs $38,370 at the tenth percentile to $75,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $42,277 take-home in Michigan comes from $52,360. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 284 of 493.
- Two cautions on $44,887, the adjusted value of that $52,360 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 284 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for machinists in Michigan, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,370 to $75,330; 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.
- Retained pay of $42,277, from $52,360, assumes a single Michigan filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 284 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 51 for it.
- This $44,887 adjusted figure, worked from $52,360, 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 284 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 284 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 $55,240, 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 $38,370 at the bottom tenth to $75,330 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $44,887.
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 $42,277 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 $55,240. 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 ($38,370 to $75,330) 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 $44,887 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 $42,277 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.