Social and Human Service Assistants in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,232
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$6,928
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,222
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
$39,160
Kept after tax
$32,232
Worth in national money
$34,222
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Michigan. The middle earner gets $39,160. That is 39 of 51 states, and about 14.74% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 493 occupations Michigan publishes, this job lands at 420. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Michigan does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $39,160 you keep $32,232, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,222 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For social and human service assistants, Michigan sits in the lower band at $39,160, ranking 39 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 14.74%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Michigan, this work ranks 420 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.
- After federal, FICA and Michigan income tax, retained pay for social and human service assistants on $39,160 is $32,232. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,222 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 $42,940 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social and Human Service Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,100 |
| This salary | $39,160 |
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 | $32,232 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,645 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$401 |
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 | $37,401 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$485 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,160 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,780 and the ninetieth is $57,100 — 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 $32,232, worked from $39,160. 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 420 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,222, the adjusted value of that $39,160 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 420 of 493 in the state.
- The Michigan median of $39,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,780 to $57,100. 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 $32,232, on $39,160 for work ranking 420 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 420 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $34,222 — the adjusted value of that $39,160 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 420 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 $42,940, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $30,780 at the bottom tenth to $57,100 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $34,222.
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 $32,232 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 $42,940. 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 ($30,780 to $57,100) 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 $34,222 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 $32,232 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.