Food Batchmakers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,289
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$6,591
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,984
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
$36,880
Kept after tax
$30,289
Worth in national money
$27,984
State rank
44
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food batchmakers is on the low side in Massachusetts. The middle earner gets $36,880. That is 44 of 50 states, and about 12.79% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, food batchmakers lands at 469. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $36,880, tax leaves $30,289 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $27,984 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $38,990, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food batchmakers, Massachusetts sits in the lower band at $36,880, ranking 44 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 12.79%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Massachusetts, this work ranks 469 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.
- After tax, $30,289 remains from the Massachusetts median of $36,880 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $27,984 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $38,990 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Food Batchmakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,360 |
| This salary | $36,880 |
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 | $30,289 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,813 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,754 |
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 | $34,983 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,750 |
| 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 $36,880. The published range is $31,200 up to $49,360, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $30,289, from $36,880, 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 469 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $27,984, the adjusted value of that $36,880 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 469 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for food batchmakers in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $49,360. 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 $30,289 from $36,880. 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 469 of 485 locally.
- This $27,984 adjusted figure, worked from $36,880, 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 469 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 469 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 $38,990, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,200 at the tenth percentile, $49,360 at the ninetieth.
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 $27,984 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, $30,289 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.
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 $38,990. 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 ($31,200 to $49,360) 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 $27,984 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 $30,289 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.