File Clerks in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,902
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$9,408
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,941
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
$48,310
Kept after tax
$38,902
Worth in national money
$35,941
State rank
6
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays file clerks a middle wage of $48,310, ranking 6 of 49 states and sitting about 10.8% above the national middle.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, file clerks lands at 377. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $48,310 the take-home is $38,902; in national-average money that behaves like $35,941. The average comes to $51,290, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts's median for file clerks is $48,310, about 10.8% above the national figure and 6 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.
- Within Massachusetts, this work ranks 377 of 485 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Take-home for file clerks in Massachusetts, on $48,310, is $38,902; deflated by the state's price level, $35,941. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $51,290 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,210 |
| This salary | $48,310 |
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 | $38,902 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,997 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,248 |
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 | $45,702 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,556 |
| 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 $48,310. The published range is $37,430 up to $70,210, 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 $38,902, worked from $48,310. 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 377 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,941 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 377.
- Reported values are medians; for file clerks in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,430 to $70,210. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $38,902, on $48,310 for work ranking 377 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 377 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,941, worked from $48,310, 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 377 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 $51,290, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,430 at the tenth percentile, $70,210 at the ninetieth.
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 $35,941 of national purchasing power.
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, $38,902 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 $51,290. 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 ($37,430 to $70,210) 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 $35,941 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 $38,902 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.