Customer Service Representatives in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,512
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$9,608
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,505
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
$49,120
Kept after tax
$39,512
Worth in national money
$36,505
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays this job a middle wage of $49,120, ranking 3 of 51 states and sitting about 9.72% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Massachusetts, this one sits low: 368 of 485 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,120, tax leaves $39,512 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,505 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $52,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts's median for customer service representatives is $49,120, about 9.72% above the national figure and 3 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Customer service representatives occupies position 368 of 485 in Massachusetts's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $39,512 remains from the Massachusetts median of $49,120 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,505 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $52,750 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Customer Service Representatives
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,880 |
| This salary | $49,120 |
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 | $39,512 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,648 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,354 |
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 | $46,462 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,685 |
| 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 customer service representatives in Massachusetts earn under $49,120 and half over. The published range runs $35,440 at the tenth percentile to $74,880 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $39,512, worked from $49,120. 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 368 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,505, the adjusted value of that $49,120 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 368 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for customer service representatives in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,440 to $74,880; 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.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $39,512, on $49,120 for work ranking 368 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 368 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $36,505 — the adjusted value of that $49,120 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 368 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 $52,750 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 $35,440, the highest tenth $74,880, 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 $36,505 rather than its face figure.
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 $39,512 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $52,750. 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 ($35,440) and the ninetieth ($74,880) 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 $36,505 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 $39,512 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.