Firefighters in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$56,725
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$16,075
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,407
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
$72,800
Kept after tax
$56,725
Worth in national money
$52,407
State rank
11
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for firefighters. The middle earner takes $72,800, which ranks 11 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 22.81% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 227 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $72,800, tax leaves $56,725 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $52,407 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $73,220, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts ranks 11 of 50 states publishing a median for firefighters, at $72,800 — about 22.81% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Firefighters ranks 227 of 485 occupations in Massachusetts by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After tax, $56,725 remains from the Massachusetts median of $72,800 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $52,407 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $73,220 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,130 |
| This salary | $72,800 |
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 | $56,725 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,045 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,383 |
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 | $68,081 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,132 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $72,800 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,730 and the ninetieth is $98,130 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $56,725, worked from $72,800. 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 227 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,407 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 227.
- The Massachusetts median of $72,800 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,730 to $98,130. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $56,725, on $72,800 for work ranking 227 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 227 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,407, worked from $72,800, 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 227 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $49,730 at the bottom tenth to $98,130 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $52,407 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, $56,725 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($49,730 to $98,130) 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 $52,407 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 $56,725 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.