Human Resources Managers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$126,744
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$55,036
30.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$117,097
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
$181,780
Kept after tax
$126,744
Worth in national money
$117,097
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for human resources managers is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $181,780, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 21.77% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Massachusetts this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, human resources managers ranks 12 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $181,780 the take-home is $126,744; in national-average money that behaves like $117,097. The average comes to $195,110, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For human resources managers, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $181,780, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 21.77% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Massachusetts publishes a median for, human resources managers sits 12 of 485 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Take-home for human resources managers in Massachusetts, on $181,780, is $126,744; deflated by the state's price level, $117,097. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $195,110 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Human Resources Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $99,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $181,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $315,700 |
| This salary | $181,780 |
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 | $126,744 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $135,513 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$22,355 |
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 | $168,950 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$31,783 |
| 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 $181,780. The published range is $99,990 up to $315,700, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $126,744 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $181,780. 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 12 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $117,097, the adjusted value of that $181,780 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 12 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for human resources managers in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $99,990 to $315,700. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $126,744, from $181,780, 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 12 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $117,097 — the adjusted value of that $181,780 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 12 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 $195,110 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $99,990 and the top tenth $315,700 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $117,097 of national purchasing power.
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 $126,744 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $195,110. 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 ($99,990) and the ninetieth ($315,700) 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 $117,097 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 $126,744 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.