Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,104
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$15,216
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,910
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
$70,320
Kept after tax
$55,104
Worth in national money
$50,910
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $70,320, putting the state 6 of 50 — about 18.58% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 236 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $70,320, tax leaves $55,104 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $50,910 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $72,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- For education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $70,320, ranking 6 of 50 and running about 18.58% 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 236 of 485 in Massachusetts places education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare 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.
- After tax, $55,104 remains from the Massachusetts median of $70,320 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $50,910 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $72,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,570 |
| This salary | $70,320 |
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 | $55,104 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,300 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,085 |
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 | $65,867 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,463 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Massachusetts earn less than $70,320. The published range is $47,530 up to $102,570, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $55,104 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $70,320. 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 236 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $50,910, the adjusted value of that $70,320 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 236 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,530 to $102,570. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $55,104, from $70,320, 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 236 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $50,910 — the adjusted value of that $70,320 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 236 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $72,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $47,530 and the top tenth $102,570 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $50,910 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 $55,104 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $72,890. 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 ($47,530) and the ninetieth ($102,570) 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 $50,910 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 $55,104 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.