Museum Technicians and Conservators in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,110
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$6,890
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,093
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
$39,000
Kept after tax
$32,110
Worth in national money
$34,093
State rank
39
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Michigan. The middle earner gets $39,000. That is 39 of 45 states, and about 24.18% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Measured against other jobs in Michigan, this one sits low: 421 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,000 you keep $32,110 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,093 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For museum technicians and conservators, Michigan sits in the lower band at $39,000, ranking 39 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 24.18%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Museum technicians and conservators occupies position 421 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 $32,110 after the full tax stack, from $39,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,093 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Museum Technicians and Conservators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,140 |
| This salary | $39,000 |
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 | $32,110 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,517 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$398 |
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 | $37,249 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$482 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Michigan earn less than $39,000. The published range is $33,780 up to $62,140, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $32,110 take-home in Michigan comes from $39,000. 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 421 of 493.
- Two cautions on $34,093, the adjusted value of that $39,000 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 421 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for museum technicians and conservators in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,780 to $62,140. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $32,110, from $39,000, 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 421 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 45 for it.
- This $34,093 adjusted figure, worked from $39,000, 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 421 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 421 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $44,660, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $33,780 at the bottom tenth to $62,140 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $34,093.
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, $32,110 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $44,660. 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 ($33,780) and the ninetieth ($62,140) 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 $34,093 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 $32,110 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.