Massage Therapists in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,264
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$13,126
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,439
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
$63,390
Kept after tax
$50,264
Worth in national money
$46,439
State rank
11
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays massage therapists a middle wage of $63,390, ranking 11 of 50 states and sitting about 8.45% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations Massachusetts reports figures for, this is number 263.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $63,390, tax leaves $50,264 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $46,439 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $73,100, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts's median for massage therapists is $63,390, about 8.45% above the national figure and 11 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Massachusetts's occupational distribution, massage therapists sits at 263 of 485 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $50,264 remains from the Massachusetts median of $63,390 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $46,439 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $73,100 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,510 |
| This salary | $63,390 |
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 | $50,264 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,114 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,219 |
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 | $59,844 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,940 |
| 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 $63,390. The published range is $40,420 up to $104,510, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $50,264 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $63,390. 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 263 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,439 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 263.
- Reported values are medians; for massage therapists in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,420 to $104,510. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $50,264, from $63,390, 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 263 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,439, worked from $63,390, 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 263 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 $73,100 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $40,420 at the bottom tenth to $104,510 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $46,439 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 $50,264 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 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 $73,100. 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 ($40,420) and the ninetieth ($104,510) 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 $46,439 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 $50,264 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.