Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,069
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$7,191
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,111
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
$40,260
Kept after tax
$33,069
Worth in national money
$35,111
State rank
27
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Michigan pays this job around $40,260 at the midpoint, 27 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Michigan publishes, this job lands at 404. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $40,260 you keep $33,069 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,111 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,340, since top earners drag the number up.
- For sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood the Michigan median is $40,260, ranking 27 of 46 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.
- Within Michigan, this work ranks 404 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Michigan is $33,069 after the full tax stack, from $40,260. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,111 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,340 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,550 |
| This salary | $40,260 |
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 | $33,069 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,529 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$422 |
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 | $38,443 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$510 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $40,260 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,920 and the ninetieth is $50,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Michigan's $33,069, worked from $40,260. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 404 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,111 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 404.
- The Michigan median of $40,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,920 to $50,550. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Michigan take-home of $33,069, on $40,260 for work ranking 404 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 404 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,111, worked from $40,260, 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 404 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 $42,340, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $34,920 at the bottom tenth to $50,550 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $35,111 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 $33,069 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 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 $42,340. 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 ($34,920 to $50,550) 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 $35,111 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 $33,069 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.