Interior Designers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,502
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$18,608
23.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,821
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
$80,110
Kept after tax
$61,502
Worth in national money
$56,821
State rank
4
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for interior designers. The middle earner takes $80,110, which ranks 4 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 19.23% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Interior designers ranks 182 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $80,110, tax leaves $61,502 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $56,821 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $83,670, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts ranks 4 of 49 states publishing a median for interior designers, at $80,110 — about 19.23% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 182 of 485 in Massachusetts places interior designers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $61,502 remains from the Massachusetts median of $80,110 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $56,821 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $83,670 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Interior Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,100 |
| This salary | $80,110 |
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 | $61,502 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,187 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,261 |
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 | $74,871 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,104 |
| 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 $80,110. The published range is $52,230 up to $123,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $61,502, from $80,110, 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 182 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $56,821, the adjusted value of that $80,110 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 182 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for interior designers in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $52,230 to $123,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,502 from $80,110. 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 182 of 485 locally.
- This $56,821 adjusted figure, worked from $80,110, 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 182 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 182 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 $83,670 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 $52,230 and the top tenth $123,100 — 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 $56,821 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 $61,502 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $83,670. 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 ($52,230) and the ninetieth ($123,100) 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 $56,821 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 $61,502 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.