Marriage and Family Therapists in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,176
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$14,194
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,129
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
$67,370
Kept after tax
$53,176
Worth in national money
$49,129
State rank
15
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays marriage and family therapists a middle wage of $67,370, ranking 15 of 45 states and sitting about 0.64% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 246 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $67,370 the take-home is $53,176. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $49,129 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $80,880, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Massachusetts's median for marriage and family therapists is $67,370, about 0.64% above the national figure and 15 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Marriage and family therapists ranks 246 of 485 occupations in Massachusetts by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $53,176 for marriage and family therapists, from $67,370. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,129. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $80,880 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Marriage and Family Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,490 |
| This salary | $67,370 |
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 | $53,176 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,225 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,730 |
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 | $63,468 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,667 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $67,370 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,070 and the ninetieth is $128,490 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $53,176, from $67,370, 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 246 of 485 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,129, the adjusted value of that $67,370 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 246 of 485 in the state.
- The Massachusetts median of $67,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,070 to $128,490. 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 $53,176 from $67,370. 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 246 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $49,129 — the adjusted value of that $67,370 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 246 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 $80,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $49,070 and the top tenth $128,490 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $49,129 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $53,176 remains.
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 45 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 $80,880. 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 ($49,070) and the ninetieth ($128,490) 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 $49,129 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 $53,176 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.