Manicurists and Pedicurists in Michigan

A barber’s hands finishing a cut at the nape, with cut hair on the floor below.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$30,504

after federal, FICA and Michigan tax

Tax takes

$6,386

17.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$32,388

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

$36,890

Kept after tax

$30,504

Worth in national money

$32,388

State rank

18

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Michigan sits in the middle of the pack for manicurists and pedicurists. The median is $36,890, ranking 18 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Measured against other jobs in Michigan, this one sits low: 442 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,890 you keep $30,504 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,388 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,130, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Michigan occupies the middle band for manicurists and pedicurists: a median of $36,890, ranking 18 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Manicurists and pedicurists occupies position 442 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 $30,504 after the full tax stack, from $36,890. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,388 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,130 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

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Pay band: Manicurists and Pedicurists

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$27,740
Half earn under$36,890
Top tenth earn over$65,880
This salary$36,890

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
+$1,317take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Michigan$30,504
Take-home in Texas$31,821
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$358

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 · $36,890$36,456
$36,456in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$35,251
You could take a cut of−$434
Prices in Texas97 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 manicurists and pedicurists in Michigan earn under $36,890 and half over. The published range runs $27,740 at the tenth percentile to $65,880 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • That $30,504 take-home in Michigan comes from $36,890. 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 442 of 493.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,388 uses one figure for the whole of Michigan. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 442.
  • Figures are distribution medians for manicurists and pedicurists in Michigan, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,740 to $65,880; 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 $30,504, from $36,890, 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 442 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 49 for it.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,388, worked from $36,890, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Michigan address, on work sitting at 442 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 $44,130 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

The label is broader than the work. From $27,740 at the bottom tenth to $65,880 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

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 $32,388 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 $30,504.

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 $44,130. 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 ($27,740) and the ninetieth ($65,880) 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 $32,388 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 $30,504 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.