Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$81,189
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$27,901
25.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$86,203
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
$109,090
Kept after tax
$81,189
Worth in national money
$86,203
State rank
5
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Michigan is one of the better-paying states for physics teachers, postsecondary. The middle earner takes $109,090, which ranks 5 of 47 states with published figures. That is about 8.75% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Michigan reports, physics teachers, postsecondary comes in at 36 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Michigan does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $109,090 you keep $81,189, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $86,203 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $115,750, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Michigan ranks 5 of 47 states publishing a median for physics teachers, postsecondary, at $109,090 — about 8.75% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 36 of 493 occupations by median in Michigan, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Michigan income tax, retained pay for physics teachers, postsecondary on $109,090 is $81,189. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $86,203 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 $115,750 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $55,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $109,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $176,760 |
| This salary | $109,090 |
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 | $81,189 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $85,575 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,860 |
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 | $102,856 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,569 |
| 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 $109,090. The published range is $55,450 up to $176,760, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $81,189 take-home in Michigan comes from $109,090. 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 36 of 493.
- Two cautions on $86,203, the adjusted value of that $109,090 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 36 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for physics teachers, postsecondary in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $55,450 to $176,760. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $81,189, from $109,090, 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 36 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 47 for it.
- This $86,203 adjusted figure, worked from $109,090, 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 36 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 36 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 $115,750 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $55,450, the highest tenth $176,760, 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 $86,203.
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, $81,189 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 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 $115,750. 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 ($55,450) and the ninetieth ($176,760) 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 $86,203 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 $81,189 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.