Industrial Engineers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,656
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$28,764
26.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,517
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
$109,420
Kept after tax
$80,656
Worth in national money
$74,517
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays industrial engineers a middle wage of $109,420, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 6.81% above the national middle.
- Within Massachusetts this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, industrial engineers ranks 77 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $109,420, tax leaves $80,656 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $74,517 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $117,540, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts's median for industrial engineers is $109,420, about 6.81% above the national figure and 12 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation Massachusetts publishes a median for, industrial engineers sits 77 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.
- After tax, $80,656 remains from the Massachusetts median of $109,420 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $74,517 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $117,540 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Industrial Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $109,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $161,870 |
| This salary | $109,420 |
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 | $80,656 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $85,807 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,784 |
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 | $102,098 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$19,040 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of industrial engineers in Massachusetts earn under $109,420 and half over. The published range runs $81,960 at the tenth percentile to $161,870 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $80,656, worked from $109,420. 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 77 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $74,517, the adjusted value of that $109,420 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 77 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for industrial engineers in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $81,960 to $161,870; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $80,656, on $109,420 for work ranking 77 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 77 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $74,517 — the adjusted value of that $109,420 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 77 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 $117,540, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $81,960 and the top tenth $161,870 — 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 $74,517 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, $80,656 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $117,540. 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 ($81,960) and the ninetieth ($161,870) 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 $74,517 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 $80,656 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.