Cost Estimators in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,049
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$25,791
25.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,337
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
$100,840
Kept after tax
$75,049
Worth in national money
$69,337
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for cost estimators. The middle earner takes $100,840, which ranks 1 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 28.07% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Massachusetts. It ranks 108 out of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $100,840, tax leaves $75,049 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $69,337 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $104,770, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts ranks 1 of 51 states publishing a median for cost estimators, at $100,840 — about 28.07% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Massachusetts, cost estimators ranks 108 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.
- After tax, $75,049 remains from the Massachusetts median of $100,840 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $69,337 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $104,770 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cost Estimators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $151,780 |
| This salary | $100,840 |
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 | $75,049 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,771 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,753 |
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 | $94,128 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,616 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Massachusetts earn less than $100,840. The published range is $58,870 up to $151,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $75,049 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $100,840. 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 108 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $69,337 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 108.
- Reported values are medians; for cost estimators in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $58,870 to $151,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $75,049, from $100,840, 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 108 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $69,337, worked from $100,840, 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 108 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 $104,770 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $58,870, the highest tenth $151,780, 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 $69,337 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, $75,049 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 $104,770. 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 ($58,870) and the ninetieth ($151,780) 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 $69,337 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 $75,049 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.