What Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earn in Barry County, MI
The median pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Barry County, MI is $58,270 per year, which works out to $28.01 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI metropolitan area, the labor market that Barry County, MI belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $56,990, which is 2.2% below the median, which suggests many workers sit near the top of the pay scale. The survey counts about 10,820 people working in this occupation across the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Barry County, MI has roughly 63,409 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $42,840 a year ($20.60 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $73,740 or more ($35.45 an hour). That is a gap of $30,900 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $47,340 at the 25th percentile and $62,270 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $28.01 an hour or $58,270 a year at the median for Barry County, MI. Before any deductions, that is $4,856 a month, $2,241 every two weeks and $1,121 each week. After taxes the same job pays $22.46 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers this way: "Drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). May be required to unload truck. Requires commercial drivers' license. Includes tow truck drivers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Check vehicles to ensure that mechanical, safety, and emergency equipment is in good working order"; "Maintain logs of working hours or of vehicle service or repair status, following applicable state and federal regulations"; "Obtain receipts or signatures for delivered goods and collect payment for services when required"; "Maneuver trucks into loading or unloading positions, following signals from loading crew and checking that vehicle and loading equipment are properly positioned".
Job outlook for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,221,200 jobs in 2025 to 2,305,000 in 2035, a change of +3.8%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 214,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.7% of current employment each year. About 7.3% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $58,640 for this occupation; the Barry County, MI median of $58,270 is 0.6% below it.
How pay in Barry County, MI compares
Compared with the Michigan average
A worker in this occupation in Barry County, MI earns $1,089 more than the Michigan average of $57,181, a premium of 1.9%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,089 before tax and roughly $873 after tax. Within Michigan, the highest median we track for this job is $59,120 in Wayne County, MI.
Compared with the national average
Nationally, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earn an employment-weighted average of $57,851 across the contiguous United States, so $58,270 in Barry County, MI is essentially average. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Barry County, MI
Among the 517 occupations with published wages in Barry County, MI, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers ranks number 252 by median pay, ahead of about 51% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $101,720 a year, which is $43,450 more than the median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earning the Barry County, MI median of $58,270, they add up to $11,552. The result is $46,718 of take-home pay a year ($3,893 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $20 goes to taxes and $80 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $42,520. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $4,864, an effective 8.3% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,613 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $845. FICA totals $4,458, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Michigan
Michigan income tax on this salary is $2,230 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 46% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $186 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Barry County, MI
IRS Statistics of Income data for Barry County, MI show an average adjusted gross income of $79,626 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.4% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.9%, compared with the 8.3% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Barry County, MI
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Barry County, MI: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $46,718 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Barry County, MI, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,041 a month ($12,492 a year), and at $1,362 for two bedrooms. For Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, a one-bedroom absorbs 26.7% of take-home pay and 21.4% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.9% of gross pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Barry County, MI. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Michigan residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,039 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $416, for $2,455 in total. Gasoline in Michigan averages $3.10 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,436.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $19,819 a year in Barry County, MI. Subtract that from $46,718 of take-home pay and $26,899 remains, which is $2,242 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 46.2% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Barry County, MI
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Barry County, MI: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Barry County, MI, set beside the Michigan and national medians.
Property taxes in Barry County, MI
Homeowners in Barry County, MI pay a median of $2,769 a year in real estate taxes, 5% below the Michigan median of $2,904 and 11% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $264,100, the median tax bill is 1.05% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers median of $58,270, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Barry County, MI
Renters in Barry County, MI pay a median gross rent of $972 a month in the Census survey, 14% below the Michigan median of $1,129. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,041 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $264,100, 14% above the Michigan median of $231,600. Median household income is $77,500, 6% above the Michigan median of $72,875, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 16.1% of that income.
Commuting in Barry County, MI
Workers in Barry County, MI who travel to a workplace spend an average of 27.7 minutes each way, 14% above the Michigan average of 24.2. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.6 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 10.5% of workers in Barry County, MI work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers afford to live in Barry County, MI?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $58,270 that ceiling is $1,457 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,041 is $416 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $20.02 an hour; the median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $28.01, which is 40% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $22.46 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 10.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,362 a month means $681 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,320 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $31,219.
How fast you can save
At $2,242 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers pay in Barry County, MI
How much do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers make per hour in Barry County, MI?
The median is $28.01 per hour, based on $58,270 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $20.60 at the 10th percentile to $35.45 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers take home after taxes in Barry County, MI?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $58,270 becomes $46,718 a year. That is $3,893 a month, $1,797 every two weeks or $898 a week.
How much tax do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers pay in Barry County, MI?
Total taxes are $11,552 a year, an effective rate of 19.8%: $4,864 federal income tax, $4,458 FICA and $2,230 Michigan income tax.
Do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earn more in Barry County, MI than elsewhere in Michigan?
Yes. The local median of $58,270 is +1.9% versus the Michigan average of $57,181, a difference of $1,089 a year.
Can Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Barry County, MI?
A one-bedroom costs $1,041 a month against take-home pay of $3,893, which is 26.7% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,457 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Barry County, MI?
About $2,242 a month ($26,899 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $19,819 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Barry County, MI at the 30% guideline?
$20.02 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $12,492 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $28.01.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Michigan rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.