Transportation Security Screeners in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,626
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$13,764
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,937
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
$67,390
Kept after tax
$53,626
Worth in national money
$56,937
State rank
14
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Michigan is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $67,390, which ranks 14 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 0.93% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Michigan, this sits in the middle: 170 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $67,390 the take-home is $53,626; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $56,937 would nationally. The average lands at $63,970, below the middle of the range.
- Michigan ranks 14 of 45 states publishing a median for transportation security screeners, at $67,390 — about 0.93% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Transportation security screeners ranks 170 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.
- Post-tax income for transportation security screeners in Michigan, on $67,390, is $53,626 — equivalent to $56,937 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $63,970 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Transportation Security Screeners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,130 |
| This salary | $67,390 |
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 | $53,626 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,239 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$937 |
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 | $64,027 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,244 |
| 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 $67,390. The published range is $44,470 up to $74,130, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $53,626 take-home in Michigan comes from $67,390. 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 170 of 493.
- Two cautions on $56,937, the adjusted value of that $67,390 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Michigan. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 170 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for transportation security screeners in Michigan the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $44,470 to $74,130. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $53,626, from $67,390, 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 170 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 45 for it.
- This $56,937 adjusted figure, worked from $67,390, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 170 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 170 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 $63,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $44,470 at the tenth percentile, $74,130 at the ninetieth.
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 $56,937 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Michigan then takes its own share, leaving $53,626.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $63,970. 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 ($44,470 to $74,130) 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 $56,937 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 $53,626 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.