Driver/Sales Workers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,817
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$9,053
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,938
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
$46,870
Kept after tax
$37,817
Worth in national money
$34,938
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for driver/sales workers is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $46,870, putting the state 3 of 51 — about 20.89% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, driver/sales workers lands at 397. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $46,870 the take-home is $37,817; in national-average money that behaves like $34,938. The average comes to $48,280, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For driver/sales workers, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $46,870, ranking 3 of 51 and running about 20.89% 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 397 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.
- Take-home for driver/sales workers in Massachusetts, on $46,870, is $37,817; deflated by the state's price level, $34,938. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $48,280 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Driver/Sales Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,140 |
| This salary | $46,870 |
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 | $37,817 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,840 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,060 |
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 | $44,352 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,329 |
| 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 driver/sales workers in Massachusetts earn under $46,870 and half over. The published range runs $33,890 at the tenth percentile to $67,140 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 $37,817, worked from $46,870. 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 397 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,938 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 397.
- Figures are distribution medians for driver/sales workers in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,890 to $67,140; 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 $37,817, on $46,870 for work ranking 397 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 397 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,938, worked from $46,870, 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 397 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 $48,280, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $33,890 and the top tenth $67,140, so most people doing this work in Massachusetts sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $34,938 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $37,817 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $48,280. 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 ($33,890 to $67,140) 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 $34,938 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 $37,817 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.