Tour and Travel Guides in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,134
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$5,956
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,933
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
$35,090
Kept after tax
$29,134
Worth in national money
$30,933
State rank
33
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Michigan is 33 of 50 states for tour and travel guides, with a middle wage of $35,090. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Michigan this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, tour and travel guides ranks 461. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Michigan does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $35,090 you keep $29,134, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $30,933 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $36,650, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Michigan ranks 33 of 50 for tour and travel guides at $35,090. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Michigan reports, tour and travel guides ranks 461 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Michigan income tax, retained pay for tour and travel guides on $35,090 is $29,134. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $30,933 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 $36,650 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tour and Travel Guides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,250 |
| This salary | $35,090 |
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 | $29,134 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,375 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$325 |
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 | $33,546 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$392 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,090 as a midpoint for Michigan, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,130 and the ninetieth is $47,250 — 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 $29,134, worked from $35,090. 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 461 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,933, the adjusted value of that $35,090 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 461 of 493 in the state.
- The Michigan median of $35,090 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,130 to $47,250. 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 $29,134, on $35,090 for work ranking 461 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 461 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $30,933 — the adjusted value of that $35,090 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 461 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 $36,650, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,130 and the top tenth $47,250, so most people doing this work in Michigan sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $30,933.
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, $29,134 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $36,650. 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 ($28,130 to $47,250) 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 $30,933 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 $29,134 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.