Insurance Underwriters in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,839
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$27,801
26.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,839
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
$106,640
Kept after tax
$78,839
Worth in national money
$72,839
State rank
1
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays insurance underwriters a middle wage of $106,640, ranking 1 of 49 states and sitting about 31.06% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Massachusetts. It ranks 85 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 $106,640 the take-home is $78,839; in national-average money that behaves like $72,839. The average comes to $114,510, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts's median for insurance underwriters is $106,640, about 31.06% above the national figure and 1 of 49 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, insurance underwriters ranks 85 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 insurance underwriters in Massachusetts, on $106,640, is $78,839; deflated by the state's price level, $72,839. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $114,510 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Insurance Underwriters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $70,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $106,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $167,590 |
| This salary | $106,640 |
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 | $78,839 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,851 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,450 |
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 | $99,516 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,579 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $106,640 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $70,590 and the ninetieth is $167,590 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $78,839, from $106,640, 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 85 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $72,839, the adjusted value of that $106,640 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 85 of 485 locally.
- The Massachusetts median of $106,640 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $70,590 to $167,590. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $78,839 from $106,640. 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 85 of 485 locally.
- This $72,839 adjusted figure, worked from $106,640, 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 85 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 85 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 $114,510, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $70,590, the highest tenth $167,590, 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 $72,839 — 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 $78,839.
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 $114,510. 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 ($70,590) and the ninetieth ($167,590) 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 $72,839 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 $78,839 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.