English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,031
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$19,949
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,158
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
$83,980
Kept after tax
$64,031
Worth in national money
$59,158
State rank
12
of 49 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 $83,980, ranking 12 of 49 states and sitting about 6.63% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 162 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $83,980 the take-home is $64,031; in national-average money that behaves like $59,158. The average comes to $103,940, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts's median for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary is $83,980, about 6.63% above the national figure and 12 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 162 of 485 in Massachusetts places english language and literature teachers, postsecondary 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 english language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts, on $83,980, is $64,031; deflated by the state's price level, $59,158. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $103,940 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $175,580 |
| This salary | $83,980 |
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 | $64,031 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,910 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,727 |
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 | $78,466 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,817 |
| 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 $83,980. The published range is $62,050 up to $175,580, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $64,031, worked from $83,980. 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 162 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,158, the adjusted value of that $83,980 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 162 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $62,050 to $175,580. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $64,031, on $83,980 for work ranking 162 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 162 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $59,158 — the adjusted value of that $83,980 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 162 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 $103,940, 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 $62,050 and the top tenth $175,580 — 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 $59,158 rather than its face figure.
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, $64,031 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $103,940. 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 ($62,050) and the ninetieth ($175,580) 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 $59,158 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 $64,031 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.