Library Assistants, Clerical in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,539
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$7,981
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,910
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
$42,520
Kept after tax
$34,539
Worth in national money
$31,910
State rank
7
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for library assistants, clerical. The middle earner takes $42,520, which ranks 7 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 15.2% above the national middle.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, library assistants, clerical lands at 433. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $42,520 the take-home is $34,539; in national-average money that behaves like $31,910. The average comes to $44,860, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts ranks 7 of 50 states publishing a median for library assistants, clerical, at $42,520 — about 15.2% 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.
- Within Massachusetts, this work ranks 433 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.
- Take-home for library assistants, clerical in Massachusetts, on $42,520, is $34,539; deflated by the state's price level, $31,910. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $44,860 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Library Assistants, Clerical
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,940 |
| This salary | $42,520 |
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 | $34,539 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,345 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,491 |
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 | $40,272 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,641 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $42,520 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,370 and the ninetieth is $59,940 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $34,539, worked from $42,520. 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 433 of 485.
- Two cautions on $31,910, the adjusted value of that $42,520 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 433 of 485 locally.
- The Massachusetts median of $42,520 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,370 to $59,940. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $34,539, on $42,520 for work ranking 433 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 433 of 485 in the state.
- This $31,910 adjusted figure, worked from $42,520, 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 433 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 433 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 $44,860, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,370 at the tenth percentile, $59,940 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $31,910 rather than its face figure.
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 $34,539.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $44,860. 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 ($32,370 to $59,940) 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 $31,910 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 $34,539 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.