Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,860
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$13,320
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,989
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
$64,180
Kept after tax
$50,860
Worth in national money
$46,989
State rank
14
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $64,180, putting the state 14 of 48 — about 6.63% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 257 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $64,180 the take-home is $50,860; in national-average money that behaves like $46,989. The average comes to $67,750, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For earth drillers, except oil and gas, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $64,180, ranking 14 of 48 and running about 6.63% 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.
- Position 257 of 485 in Massachusetts places earth drillers, except oil and gas in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Massachusetts, on $64,180, is $50,860; deflated by the state's price level, $46,989. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $67,750 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,420 |
| This salary | $64,180 |
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 | $50,860 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,749 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,322 |
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 | $60,584 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,065 |
| 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 earth drillers, except oil and gas in Massachusetts earn under $64,180 and half over. The published range runs $51,350 at the tenth percentile to $86,420 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $50,860, from $64,180, 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 257 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $46,989, the adjusted value of that $64,180 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 257 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,350 to $86,420; 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.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,860 from $64,180. 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 257 of 485 locally.
- This $46,989 adjusted figure, worked from $64,180, 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 257 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 257 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 $67,750 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $51,350 at the tenth percentile, $86,420 at the ninetieth.
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 $46,989 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $50,860 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $67,750. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($51,350 to $86,420) 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 $46,989 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 $50,860 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.