Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,265
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$9,765
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,813
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
$51,030
Kept after tax
$41,265
Worth in national money
$43,813
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Michigan pays this job around $51,030 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: 292 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $51,030 you keep $41,265 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,813 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,280, since top earners drag the number up.
- For refuse and recyclable material collectors the Michigan median is $51,030, 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.
- Refuse and recyclable material collectors ranks 292 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.
- Retained pay in Michigan is $41,265 after the full tax stack, from $51,030. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,813 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,280 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,360 |
| This salary | $51,030 |
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 | $41,265 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,183 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$625 |
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 | $48,643 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$756 |
| 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 refuse and recyclable material collectors in Michigan earn under $51,030 and half over. The published range runs $34,150 at the tenth percentile to $76,360 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $41,265 take-home in Michigan comes from $51,030. 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 292 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,813 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 292.
- Figures are distribution medians for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Michigan, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,150 to $76,360; 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 $41,265, from $51,030, 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 292 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,813, worked from $51,030, 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 292 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $34,150, the highest tenth $76,360, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $43,813 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $41,265 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($34,150) and the ninetieth ($76,360) 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 $43,813 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 $41,265 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.