Athletic Trainers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,902
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$15,108
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,723
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
$70,010
Kept after tax
$54,902
Worth in national money
$50,723
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays athletic trainers a middle wage of $70,010, ranking 6 of 50 states and sitting about 11.98% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 237 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $70,010 the take-home is $54,902; in national-average money that behaves like $50,723. The average comes to $74,390, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts's median for athletic trainers is $70,010, about 11.98% above the national figure and 6 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Athletic trainers ranks 237 of 485 occupations in Massachusetts by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Take-home for athletic trainers in Massachusetts, on $70,010, is $54,902; deflated by the state's price level, $50,723. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $74,390 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Athletic Trainers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,850 |
| This salary | $70,010 |
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 | $54,902 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,082 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,048 |
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 | $65,615 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,379 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $70,010 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,560 and the ninetieth is $104,850 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $54,902 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $70,010. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 237 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,723 uses one figure for the whole of Massachusetts. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 237.
- The Massachusetts median of $70,010 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,560 to $104,850. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $54,902, from $70,010, assumes a single Massachusetts filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 237 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,723, worked from $70,010, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Massachusetts address, on work sitting at 237 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $74,390, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $50,560, the highest tenth $104,850, 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 $50,723 — 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, $54,902 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $74,390. 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 ($50,560) and the ninetieth ($104,850) 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 $50,723 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 $54,902 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.