A newly released study on discretionary income in America has produced the surprising result that Michigan ranks first in the nation for discretionary income, largely based on data that indicates we Michiganders are able to keep more of what we earn than any other state in the union.
Trove Technologies, Inc. has released the first annual Trove Discretionary Income Study showing that the state of Michigan ranks #1 among all states for discretionary income, while Detroit ranks #5 among major cities nationwide. Additionally, five small cities in Michigan – Jackson, Battle Creek, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Muskegon – rank in the top 10 nationwide.
The Trove Discretionary Income Study is the first of its kind to incorporate data that reflect regional differences in salaries, cost of living, and taxes to most accurately reveal the take home pay of American workers across 778 occupations. While there are many “cost-of-living” calculators that highlight general income differences across cities, there are no others that take into account the effect of taxes on the cost of living or identify the significant differences by occupation.
As a result, Michael Pao, who is a co-founder at Trove Technologies, Inc, tells us, “Michigan ranks in the top echelon of states when it comes to enabling workers to keep more of what they earn.” In fact, he says, “Our research finds that Michigan blows away the rest of the country in terms of affordability, with housing expenses coming in at 32-percent lower than the national average and non-housing expenses 8-percent lower.”
Some of the major findings for Michigan include the following:
- Michigan ranks #1 out of all states nationally for discretionary income.
- Salaries across all occupations in Michigan are 1.2-percent lower than the national average, while housing expenses are 32.4-percent lower and non-housing expenses 8.2-percent lower.
- Michigan ranks highly among states for these professions:
- Education, Training, and Library (rank #2)
- Food Preparation and Serving Related (#2)
- Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance (#3)
- Personal Care and Service (#3)
- Office and Administrative Support (#3)
- Installation, Maintenance, and Repair (#3)
- Michigan also ranks #2 among states nationally for occupations with salaries in the bottom quintile (lower-paying jobs), but only #16 for occupations with salaries in the top quintile (higher-paying jobs). This is due to lower than average salaries for higher-paying jobs.
Five cities in Michigan are ranked in the top 10 small cities for discretionary income while Detroit ranks #5 among major cities. The top cities across the US for discretionary income are:
The data underlying this analysis is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Tax Foundation, and The Council For Community and Economic Research. Using a proprietary algorithm, Trove developed the tool and map.
Trove is a technology company that helps customers pack, move and store personal and household items, as well as maximize excess inventory of small, locally based moving companies. Trove provides best-in-class service including packing, inventory, moving and storage, as well as a web-based catalog of a customer’s items.
