Marketing Specialist salary in Traverse City, MI

Pay in Traverse City against Michigan and the US

The middle half of marketing specialists in Traverse City earns $47,690–$77,350. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $96,680, only 2.5 times the bottom tenth, against 3.6 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($64,810) is 9% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $29,660 wide, against $47,830 across Michigan and $49,960 nationally: employers in Traverse City pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $17,890 over the median, the 25th only $11,770 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $23,084 a year in employer cost. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $78,760 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles in Traverse City, and the Michigan statewide median of $66,780 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local marketing specialists earn.

What a hire really costs in Traverse City

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $17,263 to the $59,460 median and brings it to $76,723 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for marketing specialists we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Traverse City

Of the 16 roles we track in Traverse City, this one ranks #6 by median pay, between office managers ($61,760) and executive assistants ($58,360). Project Coordinator is the highest at $83,720.

Measured against the US median, this job is the lowest paid of the 16 roles we track in Traverse City (-24.5%); data entry specialists come first (-2.2%). The typical role here is at -10.6%, so, measured against the US, marketing specialists cost less in Traverse City than the area's general pay level would suggest. Marketing specialists hold 5.4% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Traverse City, 6.0% across Michigan and 5.7% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Michigan

Across the 19 areas of Michigan with data for this job, the median runs from $53,100 in the Northern Michigan nonmetro area to $77,100 in Detroit-Warren, a gap of $24,000 a year. Of the 9 areas in Michigan with more marketing specialists than Traverse City, 2 pay less: the Mid Michigan nonmetro area ($55,500) and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan nonmetro area ($54,480).

Traverse City against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Traverse City is #253 of 514 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Michigan, Michigan City-La Porte and Enid pay just above Traverse City and Farmington and Florence just below. All four are within $180 a year of the median in Traverse City. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, two pay more.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.