Helpers--Production Workers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,358
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$7,922
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,743
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
$42,280
Kept after tax
$34,358
Worth in national money
$31,743
State rank
19
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Massachusetts pays helpers--production workers around $42,280 at the midpoint, 19 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, helpers--production workers lands at 435. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $42,280, tax leaves $34,358 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $31,743 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $44,300, since top earners drag the number up.
- For helpers--production workers the Massachusetts median is $42,280, ranking 19 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Massachusetts, this work ranks 435 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, $34,358 remains from the Massachusetts median of $42,280 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $31,743 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $44,300 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Helpers--Production Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,050 |
| This salary | $42,280 |
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 | $34,358 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,152 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,460 |
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 | $40,047 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,603 |
| 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 $42,280. The published range is $34,390 up to $58,050, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $34,358 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $42,280. 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 435 of 485.
- Two cautions on $31,743, the adjusted value of that $42,280 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 435 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for helpers--production workers in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,390 to $58,050. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $34,358, from $42,280, 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 435 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 49 for it.
- This $31,743 adjusted figure, worked from $42,280, 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 435 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 435 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 $44,300 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,390 at the bottom tenth to $58,050 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,743 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $34,358 of this wage survives to your account.
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 49 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 $44,300. 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 ($34,390 to $58,050) 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 $31,743 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 $34,358 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.