Statewide pay Government data
Tile setters in Michigan earn a statewide median of $47,950 a year, 5% below the typical U.S. metro, ranking #30 of 47 states. About 1,010 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Michigan
See all states on the tile setter overview.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes tile setter pay for 3 Michigan metros: Kalamazoo, Detroit and Grand Rapids.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| KalamazooMICHIGAN · MI | $60,010 | $63,275 | 30 |
| DetroitMICHIGAN · MI | $47,800 | $47,658 | 470 |
| Grand RapidsMICHIGAN · MI | $46,500 | $48,668 | 180 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
Pay outside the cities Government data
BLS also reports pay for Michigan's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Apply hard tile, stone, and comparable materials to walls, floors, ceilings, countertops, and roof decks.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 9.8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,300 openings a year. Typical training: long-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, tile setters have 138 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 1.6× the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is overexertion and repetitive strain.
What the work is like Government data
How often tile setters deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes some preparation (high school plus months of training).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Registered apprenticeships Government data
Of tile setter apprentices in Michigan who finished or left a registered program in fiscal years 2020–2024, 60% completed (U.S.: 41%), about 4 graduates a year. The typical program runs 5,400 hours, about 3 years of full-time work. Search open registered programs near you on the official Apprenticeship Finder.
U.S. Department of Labor, RAPIDS apprentice records (Completion Rate Analysis), FY2020–2024 exits.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
Michigan runs its own workplace-safety program (an OSHA State Plan), so its injury reports aren't in the federal dataset. Nationally, in states federal OSHA covers, tile and terrazzo contractors filed 34 severe injury reports from 2015 to 2024; the most common cause was contact with objects and equipment (74%).
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Fatality investigations: OSHA Fatality Inspection Data, events 2015–2024, all states.
Licensing in Michigan Official source
The main state licensing office in Michigan is the LARA Bureau of Construction Codes. It can point you to the right license for tile setters.
Official Michigan licensing site ↗
Requirements for tile setters vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 13.0% of wage and salary workers in Michigan were union members, above the U.S. rate of about 10% (#14 of 51 states and D.C.), and 14.2% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only tile setters.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in Michigan
All trades in Michigan.