Accountants and Auditors in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,147
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$25,313
25.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,504
Massachusetts costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Massachusetts — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$99,460
Kept after tax
$74,147
Worth in national money
$68,504
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for accountants and auditors. The middle earner takes $99,460, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 18.86% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Massachusetts. It ranks 118 out of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $99,460 the take-home is $74,147; in national-average money that behaves like $68,504. The average comes to $107,170, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for accountants and auditors, at $99,460 — about 18.86% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Massachusetts, accountants and auditors ranks 118 of 485 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Take-home for accountants and auditors in Massachusetts, on $99,460, is $74,147; deflated by the state's price level, $68,504. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $107,170 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Accountants and Auditors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $70,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $160,100 |
| This salary | $99,460 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Massachusetts | $74,147 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,800 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,587 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $92,846 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,387 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of accountants and auditors in Massachusetts earn under $99,460 and half over. The published range runs $70,460 at the tenth percentile to $160,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $74,147, worked from $99,460. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 118 of 485.
- Two cautions on $68,504, the adjusted value of that $99,460 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Massachusetts. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 118 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for accountants and auditors in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $70,460 to $160,100; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $74,147, on $99,460 for work ranking 118 of 485 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 118 of 485 in the state.
- This $68,504 adjusted figure, worked from $99,460, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 118 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 118 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $107,170 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $70,460, the highest tenth $160,100, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Massachusetts run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $68,504 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Massachusetts's own levy, $74,147 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Massachusetts is $107,170. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($70,460) and the ninetieth ($160,100) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Massachusetts's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $68,504 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $74,147 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Massachusetts income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.