What Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers earn in Montcalm County, MI
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $40,430: the median annual pay for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm County, MI. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $19.44 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $43,190, which is 6.8% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,020 people working in this occupation across the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Montcalm County, MI has roughly 67,816 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,460 a year ($16.57 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $59,140 or more ($28.43 an hour). That is a gap of $24,680 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $34,460 at the 25th percentile and $47,240 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
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm County, MI is $19.44. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $40,430, and the same salary is $3,369 a month before taxes or about $1,555 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $15.93 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers this way: "Inspect, test, sort, sample, or weigh nonagricultural raw materials or processed, machined, fabricated, or assembled parts or products for defects, wear, and deviations from specifications. May use precision measuring instruments and complex test equipment."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Discard or reject products, materials, or equipment not meeting specifications"; "Inspect, test, or measure materials, products, installations, or work for conformance to specifications"; "Record inspection or test data, such as weights, temperatures, grades, or moisture content, and quantities inspected or graded"; "Mark items with details, such as grade or acceptance-rejection status".
Job outlook for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 602,000 jobs in 2025 to 617,200 in 2035, a change of +2.5%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 66,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 11.1% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $48,570 for this occupation; the Montcalm County, MI median of $40,430 is 16.8% below it.
How pay in Montcalm County, MI compares
Compared with the Michigan average
The local median of $40,430 sits below the Michigan employment-weighted average of $44,589. The shortfall is $4,159 a year, or 9.3%, so Montcalm County, MI is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Michigan, the highest median we track for this job is $45,400 in Wayne County, MI.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers is $49,892 across the contiguous United States. At $40,430, Montcalm County, MI pays $9,462 less, which is 19.0% below that benchmark. 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 Montcalm County, MI
Among the 517 occupations with published wages in Montcalm County, MI, Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers ranks number 425 by median pay, ahead of about 18% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $101,720 a year, which is $61,290 more than the median for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $40,430 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $7,288 a year, which leaves $33,142, or $2,762 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $24,680. 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 $2,723, an effective 6.7% 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 $2,507 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $586. FICA totals $3,093, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Michigan
Michigan income tax on this salary is $1,472 a year, or 3.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 54% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $123 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 Montcalm County, MI
IRS Statistics of Income data for Montcalm County, MI show an average adjusted gross income of $58,534 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 9.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 6.7% 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 Montcalm County, MI
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Montcalm County, MI: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $33,142 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Montcalm County, MI is $1,001 a month, or $12,012 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,181 a month. For Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers, a one-bedroom absorbs 36.2% of take-home pay and 29.7% 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 8.5% of gross pay for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm 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
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $19,339 a year, 58% of take-home pay. That leaves $13,803 a year, or $1,150 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 34.1% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Montcalm County, MI
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Montcalm 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 Montcalm County, MI, set beside the Michigan and national medians.
Property taxes in Montcalm County, MI
Homeowners in Montcalm County, MI pay a median of $1,876 a year in real estate taxes, 35% below the Michigan median of $2,904 and 40% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $185,500, the median tax bill is 1.01% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers median of $40,430, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Montcalm County, MI
Renters in Montcalm County, MI pay a median gross rent of $869 a month in the Census survey, 23% 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 $1,001 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 $185,500, 20% below the Michigan median of $231,600. Median household income is $67,344, 8% below the Michigan median of $72,875, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.8% of that income.
Commuting in Montcalm County, MI
Workers in Montcalm County, MI who travel to a workplace spend an average of 30.7 minutes each way, 27% above the Michigan average of 24.2. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.1 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 6.9% of workers in Montcalm County, MI work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers afford to live in Montcalm 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 $40,430 that ceiling is $1,011 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,001 is $10 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $19.25 an hour; the median for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers is $19.44, which is 1% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.93 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 14.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,181 a month means $591 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,926 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $18,729.
How fast you can save
At $1,150 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 9 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 18 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers pay in Montcalm County, MI
What is the hourly wage for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm County, MI?
The median is $19.44 per hour, based on $40,430 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.57 at the 10th percentile to $28.43 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm County, MI?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $40,430 becomes $33,142 a year. That is $2,762 a month, $1,275 every two weeks or $637 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm County, MI?
Total taxes are $7,288 a year, an effective rate of 18.0%: $2,723 federal income tax, $3,093 FICA and $1,472 Michigan income tax.
Is pay for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm County, MI above the Michigan average?
No. The local median of $40,430 is -9.3% versus the Michigan average of $44,589, a difference of $4,159 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers salary in Montcalm County, MI?
A one-bedroom costs $1,001 a month against take-home pay of $2,762, which is 36.2% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,011 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Montcalm County, MI?
About $1,150 a month ($13,803 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $19,339 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Montcalm County, MI at the 30% guideline?
$19.25 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $12,012 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers is $19.44.
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.