Correctional Officers and Jailers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,554
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$20,756
24.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,564
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
$86,310
Kept after tax
$65,554
Worth in national money
$60,564
State rank
3
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $86,310, putting the state 3 of 49 — about 46.44% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations Massachusetts reports figures for, this is number 153.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $86,310 the take-home is $65,554; in national-average money that behaves like $60,564. The average lands at $82,890, below the middle of the range.
- For correctional officers and jailers, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $86,310, ranking 3 of 49 and running about 46.44% 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.
- In Massachusetts's occupational distribution, correctional officers and jailers sits at 153 of 485 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for correctional officers and jailers in Massachusetts, on $86,310, is $65,554; deflated by the state's price level, $60,564. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $82,890 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Correctional Officers and Jailers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,620 |
| This salary | $86,310 |
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 | $65,554 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,549 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,007 |
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 | $80,631 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,204 |
| 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 correctional officers and jailers in Massachusetts earn under $86,310 and half over. The published range runs $63,520 at the tenth percentile to $101,620 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $65,554 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $86,310. 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 153 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $60,564, the adjusted value of that $86,310 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 153 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for correctional officers and jailers in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,520 to $101,620; 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.
- Retained pay of $65,554, from $86,310, 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 153 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $60,564 — the adjusted value of that $86,310 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 153 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 $82,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $63,520 at the tenth percentile, $101,620 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $60,564 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Massachusetts adds its own income tax on top — which is why $65,554 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $82,890. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($63,520 to $101,620) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Massachusetts rather than a national figure.
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 $60,564 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 $65,554 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.