Crossing Guards and Flaggers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,247
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$8,213
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,564
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
$43,460
Kept after tax
$35,247
Worth in national money
$32,564
State rank
11
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for crossing guards and flaggers is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $43,460, putting the state 11 of 49 — about 14.07% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, crossing guards and flaggers lands at 428. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $43,460 the take-home is $35,247. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $32,564 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $54,410, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For crossing guards and flaggers, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $43,460, ranking 11 of 49 and running about 14.07% 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, this work ranks 428 of 485 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $35,247 for crossing guards and flaggers, from $43,460. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,564. ⚠️ 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 $54,410 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Crossing Guards and Flaggers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,660 |
| This salary | $43,460 |
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 | $35,247 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,100 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,614 |
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 | $41,154 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,790 |
| 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 $43,460. The published range is $34,770 up to $92,660, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $35,247, from $43,460, 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 428 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $32,564, the adjusted value of that $43,460 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 428 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for crossing guards and flaggers in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,770 to $92,660. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,247 from $43,460. 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 428 of 485 locally.
- This $32,564 adjusted figure, worked from $43,460, 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 428 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 428 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 $54,410, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $34,770 and the top tenth $92,660 — 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 $32,564 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 $35,247.
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 $54,410. 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 ($34,770) and the ninetieth ($92,660) 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 $32,564 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 $35,247 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.