Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,683
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$25,067
25.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,075
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
$98,750
Kept after tax
$73,683
Worth in national money
$68,075
State rank
4
of 45 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 $98,750, ranking 4 of 45 states and sitting about 24.45% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Massachusetts. It ranks 120 out of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $98,750 the take-home is $73,683; in national-average money that behaves like $68,075. The average comes to $109,700, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts's median for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary is $98,750, about 24.45% above the national figure and 4 of 45 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, foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary ranks 120 of 485 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Take-home for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts, on $98,750, is $73,683; deflated by the state's price level, $68,075. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $109,700 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $98,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $164,060 |
| This salary | $98,750 |
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 | $73,683 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,301 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,502 |
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 | $92,186 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,269 |
| 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 $98,750. The published range is $63,100 up to $164,060, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $73,683 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $98,750. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 120 of 485.
- Two cautions on $68,075, the adjusted value of that $98,750 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 120 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $63,100 to $164,060. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $73,683, from $98,750, assumes a single Massachusetts filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 120 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 45 for it.
- This $68,075 adjusted figure, worked from $98,750, 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 120 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 120 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $109,700 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $63,100, the highest tenth $164,060, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Massachusetts run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $68,075 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Massachusetts then takes its own share, leaving $73,683.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $109,700. 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 ($63,100) and the ninetieth ($164,060) 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 $68,075 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 $73,683 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.