Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,138
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$12,552
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,234
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
$62,690
Kept after tax
$50,138
Worth in national money
$53,234
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Michigan pays this job around $62,690 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Michigan, this sits in the middle: 212 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 $62,690 you keep $50,138, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $53,234 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $66,920, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators the Michigan median is $62,690, ranking 19 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators ranks 212 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 operating engineers and other construction equipment operators on $62,690 is $50,138. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $53,234 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 $66,920 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,580 |
| This salary | $62,690 |
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 | $50,138 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,551 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$845 |
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 | $59,686 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,022 |
| 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 $62,690. The published range is $46,370 up to $90,580, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Michigan the take-home figure of $50,138, from $62,690, 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 212 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $53,234, the adjusted value of that $62,690 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 212 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,370 to $90,580. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Michigan is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,138 from $62,690. 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 212 of 493 locally.
- This $53,234 adjusted figure, worked from $62,690, 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 212 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 212 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 $66,920, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $46,370 and the top tenth $90,580, so most people doing this work in Michigan sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Michigan is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $53,234 in national terms.
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 $50,138 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 $66,920. 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 ($46,370 to $90,580) 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 $53,234 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 $50,138 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.