Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,162
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$19,488
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,355
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
$82,650
Kept after tax
$63,162
Worth in national money
$58,355
State rank
4
of 51 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 $82,650, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 7.91% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations Massachusetts reports figures for, this is number 169.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $82,650, tax leaves $63,162 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $58,355 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $87,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts's median for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants is $82,650, about 7.91% above the national figure and 4 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Massachusetts's occupational distribution, executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants sits at 169 of 485 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $63,162 remains from the Massachusetts median of $82,650 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $58,355 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $87,060 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,930 |
| This salary | $82,650 |
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 | $63,162 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,974 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,567 |
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 | $77,231 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,596 |
| 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 $82,650. The published range is $59,320 up to $123,930, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $63,162, from $82,650, 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 169 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $58,355, the adjusted value of that $82,650 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 169 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $59,320 to $123,930. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,162 from $82,650. 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 169 of 485 locally.
- This $58,355 adjusted figure, worked from $82,650, 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 169 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 169 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 $87,060, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $59,320, the highest tenth $123,930, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $58,355 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 $63,162 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $87,060. 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 ($59,320) and the ninetieth ($123,930) 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 $58,355 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 $63,162 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.