Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,316
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$9,544
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,324
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
$48,860
Kept after tax
$39,316
Worth in national money
$36,324
State rank
2
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $48,860, putting the state 2 of 50 — about 24.39% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Massachusetts, this one sits low: 372 of 485 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $48,860, tax leaves $39,316 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,324 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $50,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $48,860, ranking 2 of 50 and running about 24.39% 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.
- Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service occupies position 372 of 485 in Massachusetts's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $39,316 remains from the Massachusetts median of $48,860 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,324 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $50,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,420 |
| This salary | $48,860 |
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 | $39,316 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,439 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,320 |
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 | $46,218 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,643 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,860 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,600 and the ninetieth is $65,420 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $39,316 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $48,860. 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 372 of 485.
- Two cautions on $36,324, the adjusted value of that $48,860 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 372 of 485 locally.
- The Massachusetts median of $48,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,600 to $65,420. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $39,316, from $48,860, 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 372 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 50 for it.
- This $36,324 adjusted figure, worked from $48,860, 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 372 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 372 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $50,660, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,600 at the bottom tenth to $65,420 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $36,324 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $39,316 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $50,660. 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 ($36,600 to $65,420) 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 $36,324 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 $39,316 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.