Editors in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,502
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$19,668
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,668
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
$83,170
Kept after tax
$63,502
Worth in national money
$58,668
State rank
5
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for editors is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $83,170, putting the state 5 of 50 — about 6.74% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Editors ranks 167 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $83,170 the take-home is $63,502; in national-average money that behaves like $58,668. The average comes to $89,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For editors, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $83,170, ranking 5 of 50 and running about 6.74% 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 167 of 485 in Massachusetts places editors 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 editors in Massachusetts, on $83,170, is $63,502; deflated by the state's price level, $58,668. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $89,740 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Editors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $136,360 |
| This salary | $83,170 |
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 | $63,502 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,340 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,629 |
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 | $77,714 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,682 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $83,170 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,320 and the ninetieth is $136,360 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $63,502 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $83,170. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 167 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $58,668 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 167.
- The Massachusetts median of $83,170 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,320 to $136,360. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $63,502, from $83,170, assumes a single Massachusetts filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 167 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $58,668, worked from $83,170, 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 167 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 $89,740, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $47,320 and the top tenth $136,360 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $58,668 of national purchasing power.
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 $63,502.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 $89,740. 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 ($47,320) and the ninetieth ($136,360) 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 $58,668 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 $63,502 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.