Michael Paul Vaughan was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester the younger son of Graham and Dee Vaughan, and a great-great-nephew of the early 20th century Lancashire and England cricketers Ernest and Johnny Tyldesley.

The family moved to Sheffield, when he was nine. His father, an engineer, had captained the Worsley third XI, and Vaughan says "My first memory of cricket is when I was 10 years old, hitting balls on the boundary while my dad was playing for Worsley in the Manchester Association League." However, it was his brother David (currently working as an estate agent), older by two years, who got him into the game.

He attended Silverdale School, and was enthusiastic about football, later reflecting, "I'd have probably preferred to be a footballer if I could have been good enough. But my knees would never have lasted." Despite his many commitments, he has been a regular supporter of Sheffield Wednesday.

As a youngster he played alongside future England international footballer and Manchester United captain Gary Neville, himself a talented youth cricketer, during the Bunbury Cricket Festival.

Vaughan started playing cricket for the school side and it was here he first caught the eye of Doug Padgett, the Yorkshire coach. He also started playing club cricket for Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club at Abbeydale Park in Sheffield.

Vaughan married Nichola Shannon (a native of Northern Ireland) on 27 September 2003. The couple have three children.

His second cousin is Coronation Street actress Catherine Tyldesley.

In 2005 he moved from Dore in Sheffield to Baslow in Derbyshire.

In 2006, he bought a house valued at £1 mill