Maintenance Workers, Machinery in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,943
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$11,058
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,598
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
$55,000
Kept after tax
$43,943
Worth in national money
$40,598
State rank
39
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is among the lower-paying states for maintenance workers, machinery. The middle earner takes $55,000, ranking 39 of 46 states — about 9.61% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Maintenance workers, machinery ranks 338 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $55,000, tax leaves $43,943 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $40,598 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $56,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts ranks 39 of 46 for maintenance workers, machinery, with a median of $55,000 — about 9.61% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 338 of 485 in Massachusetts places maintenance workers, machinery 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, $43,943 remains from the Massachusetts median of $55,000 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $40,598 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $56,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Maintenance Workers, Machinery
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,930 |
| This salary | $55,000 |
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 | $43,943 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,373 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,123 |
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 | $51,976 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,614 |
| 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 maintenance workers, machinery in Massachusetts earn under $55,000 and half over. The published range runs $41,400 at the tenth percentile to $77,930 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $43,943 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $55,000. 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 338 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,598 uses one figure for the whole of Massachusetts. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 338.
- Figures are distribution medians for maintenance workers, machinery in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $41,400 to $77,930; 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.
- Retained pay of $43,943, from $55,000, 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 338 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,598, worked from $55,000, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Massachusetts address, on work sitting at 338 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 $56,930, 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 $41,400 at the bottom tenth to $77,930 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $40,598 rather than its face figure.
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, $43,943 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 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 $56,930. 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 ($41,400 to $77,930) 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 $40,598 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 $43,943 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.