Architectural and Civil Drafters in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,463
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$17,527
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,937
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
$76,990
Kept after tax
$59,463
Worth in national money
$54,937
State rank
2
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $76,990, putting the state 2 of 50 — about 16.39% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 205 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $76,990 the take-home is $59,463; in national-average money that behaves like $54,937. The average comes to $77,110, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For architectural and civil drafters, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $76,990, ranking 2 of 50 and running about 16.39% 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.
- Position 205 of 485 in Massachusetts places architectural and civil drafters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for architectural and civil drafters in Massachusetts, on $76,990, is $59,463; deflated by the state's price level, $54,937. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $77,110 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Architectural and Civil Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,660 |
| This salary | $76,990 |
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 | $59,463 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,992 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,887 |
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 | $71,973 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,262 |
| 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 architectural and civil drafters in Massachusetts earn under $76,990 and half over. The published range runs $56,850 at the tenth percentile to $102,660 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 $59,463, worked from $76,990. 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 205 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,937, the adjusted value of that $76,990 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 205 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for architectural and civil drafters in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,850 to $102,660; 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 $59,463, on $76,990 for work ranking 205 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 205 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $54,937 — the adjusted value of that $76,990 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 205 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $56,850 at the tenth percentile, $102,660 at the ninetieth.
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 $54,937 — 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, $59,463 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($56,850 to $102,660) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Massachusetts rather than a national figure.
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 $54,937 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 $59,463 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.