Curators in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,986
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$17,804
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,420
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
$77,790
Kept after tax
$59,986
Worth in national money
$55,420
State rank
7
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays curators a middle wage of $77,790, ranking 7 of 49 states and sitting about 22.66% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations Massachusetts reports figures for, this is number 200.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $77,790 the take-home is $59,986; in national-average money that behaves like $55,420. The average comes to $81,450, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts's median for curators is $77,790, about 22.66% above the national figure and 7 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Massachusetts's occupational distribution, curators sits at 200 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 curators in Massachusetts, on $77,790, is $59,986; deflated by the state's price level, $55,420. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $81,450 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Curators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,480 |
| This salary | $77,790 |
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 | $59,986 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,555 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,983 |
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 | $72,716 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,478 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,790 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,310 and the ninetieth is $130,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $59,986, worked from $77,790. 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 200 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $55,420 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 200.
- The Massachusetts median of $77,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,310 to $130,480. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $59,986, on $77,790 for work ranking 200 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 200 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $55,420, worked from $77,790, 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 200 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $81,450, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $41,310 at the bottom tenth to $130,480 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Massachusetts run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $55,420 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $59,986.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $81,450. 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 ($41,310) and the ninetieth ($130,480) 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 $55,420 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 $59,986 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.