Tax Preparers in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,741
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$8,659
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,072
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
$46,400
Kept after tax
$37,741
Worth in national money
$40,072
State rank
31
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Michigan pays tax preparers around $46,400 at the midpoint, 31 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Tax preparers ranks 347 among 493 occupations Michigan publishes pay for.
- Here is where Michigan does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $46,400 you keep $37,741, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $40,072 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $54,160, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For tax preparers the Michigan median is $46,400, ranking 31 of 48 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.
- Position 347 of 493 in Michigan places tax preparers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Michigan income tax, retained pay for tax preparers on $46,400 is $37,741. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $40,072 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 $54,160 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,950 |
| This salary | $46,400 |
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 | $37,741 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,462 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$538 |
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 | $44,258 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$651 |
| 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 $46,400. The published range is $29,600 up to $77,950, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Michigan's $37,741, worked from $46,400. 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 347 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,072 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 347.
- Reported values are medians; for tax preparers in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,600 to $77,950. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Michigan take-home of $37,741, on $46,400 for work ranking 347 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 347 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,072, worked from $46,400, 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 347 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 $54,160 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,600 and the top tenth $77,950 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $40,072 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $37,741 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $54,160. 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 ($29,600) and the ninetieth ($77,950) 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 $40,072 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 $37,741 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.