Architectural and Engineering Managers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$140,229
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$61,201
30.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$129,556
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
$201,430
Kept after tax
$140,229
Worth in national money
$129,556
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays this job a middle wage of $201,430, ranking 3 of 51 states and sitting about 17.61% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 485 occupations Massachusetts reports, this job comes in at 8 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $201,430, tax leaves $140,229 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $129,556 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $203,040, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts's median for architectural and engineering managers is $201,430, about 17.61% above the national figure and 3 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Architectural and engineering managers ranks 8 of 485 occupations by median in Massachusetts, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After tax, $140,229 remains from the Massachusetts median of $201,430 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $129,556 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $203,040 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Architectural and Engineering Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $137,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $201,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $286,410 |
| This salary | $201,430 |
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 | $140,229 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $149,980 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$24,784 |
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 | $188,332 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$33,720 |
| 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 engineering managers in Massachusetts earn under $201,430 and half over. The published range runs $137,750 at the tenth percentile to $286,410 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 $140,229, worked from $201,430. 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 8 of 485.
- Two cautions on $129,556, the adjusted value of that $201,430 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 8 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for architectural and engineering managers in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $137,750 to $286,410; 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 $140,229, on $201,430 for work ranking 8 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 8 of 485 in the state.
- This $129,556 adjusted figure, worked from $201,430, 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 8 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 8 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $137,750, the highest tenth $286,410, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $129,556 rather than its face figure.
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, $140,229 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($137,750) and the ninetieth ($286,410) 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 $129,556 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 $140,229 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.