Biological Scientists, All Other in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,140
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$27,960
26.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,117
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
$107,100
Kept after tax
$79,140
Worth in national money
$73,117
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for biological scientists, all other is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $107,100, putting the state 6 of 50 — about 8.27% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Massachusetts. It ranks 83 out of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $107,100 the take-home is $79,140. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $73,117 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $122,930, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For biological scientists, all other, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $107,100, ranking 6 of 50 and running about 8.27% 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.
- Within Massachusetts, biological scientists, all other ranks 83 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $79,140 for biological scientists, all other, from $107,100. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $73,117. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $122,930 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Biological Scientists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $69,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $107,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $194,050 |
| This salary | $107,100 |
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 | $79,140 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $84,175 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,505 |
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 | $99,943 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,655 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $107,100 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $69,500 and the ninetieth is $194,050 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $79,140, worked from $107,100. 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 83 of 485.
- Two cautions on $73,117, the adjusted value of that $107,100 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 83 of 485 locally.
- The Massachusetts median of $107,100 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $69,500 to $194,050. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $79,140, on $107,100 for work ranking 83 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 83 of 485 in the state.
- This $73,117 adjusted figure, worked from $107,100, 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 83 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 83 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 $122,930 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $69,500 and the top tenth $194,050 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $73,117 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, $79,140 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.
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 $122,930. 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 ($69,500) and the ninetieth ($194,050) 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 $73,117 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 $79,140 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.