Your monthly budget in Detroit.

Detroit had 645,702 residents in 2024, a median household income of $39,209 and a median gross rent of $1,091 a month, according to the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. Rent here is far below the national median, and so are incomes. The city is still the center of the American auto industry: GM’s headquarters, Stellantis plants on the east side, Ford in neighboring Dearborn and a network of suppliers, plus hospitals and Rocket Companies downtown.

Two costs work against the low rent. Detroit residents pay a city income tax of 2.4%, on top of Michigan’s flat 4.25% state rate. And car insurance in the Detroit metro averaged $5,687 a year for full coverage, the highest of any metro area, according to Bankrate’s 2025 True Cost of Auto Insurance report, based on 2024 rates. That is more than five months of median rent.

For auto workers there is a third factor: the profit-sharing check. In 2026, eligible GM workers received up to $10,500, down from $14,500 a year earlier, GM Authority reported citing the Detroit Free Press. Ford paid up to $6,780, down from $10,208, and Stellantis paid nothing for the first time in years after its 2025 loss. This page is for the line worker, the skilled-trades electrician and the Detroit household that plans its year around that check. By the end you will know what your month costs without it and how to use it when it comes.

A check you should not count on

Profit sharing is calculated from the company’s North American profit, which the worker on the line cannot control. GM’s formula pays about $1,000 per billion dollars of profit. When profits fall, the check falls, and when a company loses money, there may be none. Households that build March into their budget, to catch up on bills or pay down a card, get hurt most when it shrinks.

The safer plan is to run the year on your regular paychecks alone and give the check its jobs before the payout date. In Monthly, you log the net amount the day it arrives as variable income and move it straight into the goals you chose.

What comes out of a Detroit paycheck

Federal tax, Social Security and Medicare come first, then Michigan’s 4.25% and the city tax: 2.4% if you live in Detroit, 1.2% if you live elsewhere and work in the city. Union dues and benefits follow. On a $5,000 gross month, a Detroit resident pays $120 in city tax alone. Plan on the deposit, not the hourly rate.

Insurance, the bill that rivals rent

Michigan’s 2019 no-fault reform let drivers choose their personal injury protection level, and premiums have moved since, but Detroit remains the most expensive metro for car insurance in Bankrate’s ranking. Most households pay every month or every six months. Either way, enter the cost as a fixed monthly amount in your plan, and set a reminder before each renewal to shop the policy.

Fixed costs in a Detroit month

• Rent or mortgage; if you pay property taxes yourself, the summer and winter bills spread over twelve months.
• DTE electricity and gas, with winter heating peaks, and water.
• Car payment and insurance, often both higher than rent.
• Gas for the commute to the plant or the office.
• Phone and internet.
• Childcare that fits shift schedules.
• Card payments and any personal loans.

Example one: a GM line worker on the east side

The figures in both examples are illustrative. Terrence builds trucks on the line and lives in Detroit. After federal and state taxes, the 2.4% city tax and union dues, his regular take-home is $4,350 a month.

Fixed costs: mortgage with escrowed taxes on a house in East English Village $780, homeowners insurance included, DTE gas and electric averaged $230, water $85, truck payment $520, car insurance $430, gas $160, phone and internet $130, credit card payment $150. Total: $2,485. Weekend reserve: $250.

$4,350 minus $2,485 minus $250 leaves $1,615 of real free money.

His profit-sharing check, up to $10,500 before tax, came to about $6,700 after withholding. Before it arrived, he set the split: $3,000 to a goal called Down weeks, $2,500 toward the credit card, $1,200 for a family trip. When the plant later idled for two weeks, the gap came out of the Down weeks goal and the mortgage was paid on time.

Enter your regular take-home without profit sharing and see what your year looks like on its own →

Example two: a hospital tech and a supplier worker in a two-car household

Nicole is a surgical tech at a hospital in Midtown and takes home $3,300 a month. Her husband, Marcus, works second shift at a parts supplier in Warren and takes home $3,100, but his hours change with the automakers’ production schedules. They rent a house on the west side and both pay Detroit’s resident city tax.

Planned income: $6,400.

Fixed costs: rent $1,250, renters insurance $20, DTE averaged $260, water $90, two car payments $720, car insurance for two drivers $640, gas $260, phone and internet $150, after-school care $380, personal loan $180. Total: $3,950. Weekend reserve: $300.

$6,400 minus $3,950 minus $300 leaves $2,150.

Car insurance for two vehicles costs them more than half of their rent. At renewal they compared quotes and changed their PIP choice, which cut $110 a month. They sent that money to a savings goal for Marcus’s short weeks, because his overtime and his layoffs both follow the same production calendar.

Why Monthly stays manual

Monthly is a free budgeting app for the web and Android that you fill in by hand. It does not connect to your bank, does not move money and does not offer financial advice. You type in paychecks, profit sharing, fixed costs, installments and debts, and the app shows what is free. Savings goals for down weeks, property taxes or a trip live under Patrimonio with a target, a date and logged contributions. The guide on planning a debt payoff that works is a good place to send part of a profit-sharing check, and how Monthly works covers the setup.

Real free money and your next step

Detroit’s low rent is real, and so are its insurance and tax bills. Real free money is what is left after those and every other fixed cost and a weekend reserve come out of your regular paycheck, without profit sharing or overtime. Plan on that, assign the March check before it comes, and a smaller payout year stays a smaller trip.

Set up your regular month in Monthly, spread your insurance and taxes, and plan the next profit-sharing check →