Construction and Building Inspectors in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,521
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$19,679
23.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,687
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
$83,200
Kept after tax
$63,521
Worth in national money
$58,687
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for construction and building inspectors is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $83,200, putting the state 8 of 51 — about 11.39% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 166 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $83,200 the take-home is $63,521. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $58,687 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $86,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For construction and building inspectors, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $83,200, ranking 8 of 51 and running about 11.39% 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.
- Construction and building inspectors ranks 166 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $63,521 for construction and building inspectors, from $83,200. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $58,687. ⚠️ 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 $86,940 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: Construction and Building Inspectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,400 |
| This salary | $83,200 |
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 | $63,521 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,361 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,633 |
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 | $77,742 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,687 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $83,200 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,330 and the ninetieth is $123,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $63,521, from $83,200, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 166 of 485 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $58,687, the adjusted value of that $83,200 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 166 of 485 in the state.
- The Massachusetts median of $83,200 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,330 to $123,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,521 from $83,200. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 166 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $58,687 — the adjusted value of that $83,200 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 166 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 $86,940, 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 $50,330, the highest tenth $123,400, 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 $58,687 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Massachusetts then takes its own share, leaving $63,521.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $86,940. 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 ($50,330) and the ninetieth ($123,400) 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 $58,687 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 $63,521 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.