A toner-state predicting device includes a changing unit that changes a rotation speed of a stepping motor that drives a toner recovery mechanism in an image forming apparatus; a detecting unit that detects presence of synchronization loss of the stepping motor at the changed rotation speed; and a predicting unit that predicts toner clogging which will occur in future in the toner recovery mechanism, based on the rotation speed changed by the changing unit and the presence of the synchronization loss detected by the detecting unit.