Advertising Sales Agents in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,757
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$18,743
23.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,056
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
$80,500
Kept after tax
$61,757
Worth in national money
$57,056
State rank
3
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for advertising sales agents is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $80,500, putting the state 3 of 48 — about 24.19% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations Massachusetts reports figures for, this is number 178.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $80,500, tax leaves $61,757 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $57,056 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $90,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- For advertising sales agents, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $80,500, ranking 3 of 48 and running about 24.19% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Massachusetts's occupational distribution, advertising sales agents sits at 178 of 485 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $61,757 remains from the Massachusetts median of $80,500 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $57,056 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $90,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Advertising Sales Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $134,820 |
| This salary | $80,500 |
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 | $61,757 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,462 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,308 |
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 | $75,233 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,209 |
| 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 advertising sales agents in Massachusetts earn under $80,500 and half over. The published range runs $45,130 at the tenth percentile to $134,820 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 $61,757, worked from $80,500. 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 178 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,056, the adjusted value of that $80,500 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 178 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for advertising sales agents in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,130 to $134,820; 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 $61,757, on $80,500 for work ranking 178 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 178 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $57,056 — the adjusted value of that $80,500 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 178 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $90,640, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,130 at the bottom tenth to $134,820 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $57,056 — 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, $61,757 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $90,640. 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 ($45,130) and the ninetieth ($134,820) 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 $57,056 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 $61,757 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.