Civil Engineers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,898
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$27,832
26.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,893
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
$106,730
Kept after tax
$78,898
Worth in national money
$72,893
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays civil engineers a middle wage of $106,730, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 5.84% above the national middle.
- Within Massachusetts this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, civil engineers ranks 84 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $106,730 the take-home is $78,898. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $72,893 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $117,330, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Massachusetts's median for civil engineers is $106,730, about 5.84% above the national figure and 4 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Massachusetts publishes a median for, civil engineers sits 84 of 485 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $78,898 for civil engineers, from $106,730. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $72,893. ⚠️ 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 $117,330 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $78,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $106,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $165,590 |
| This salary | $106,730 |
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 | $78,898 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,915 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,461 |
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 | $99,599 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,594 |
| 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 civil engineers in Massachusetts earn under $106,730 and half over. The published range runs $78,280 at the tenth percentile to $165,590 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 $78,898, worked from $106,730. 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 84 of 485.
- Two cautions on $72,893, the adjusted value of that $106,730 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 84 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for civil engineers in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $78,280 to $165,590; 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 $78,898, on $106,730 for work ranking 84 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 84 of 485 in the state.
- This $72,893 adjusted figure, worked from $106,730, 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 84 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 84 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 $117,330 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 $78,280 and the top tenth $165,590 — 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 $72,893 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, $78,898 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.
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 $117,330. 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 ($78,280) and the ninetieth ($165,590) 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 $72,893 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 $78,898 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.