Materials Engineers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$83,714
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$30,386
26.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,343
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
$114,100
Kept after tax
$83,714
Worth in national money
$77,343
State rank
17
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Massachusetts pays materials engineers around $114,100 at the midpoint, 17 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Massachusetts this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, materials engineers ranks 66 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $114,100 the take-home is $83,714; in national-average money that behaves like $77,343. The average comes to $120,350, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For materials engineers the Massachusetts median is $114,100, ranking 17 of 45 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Ranked against every occupation Massachusetts publishes a median for, materials engineers sits 66 of 485 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Take-home for materials engineers in Massachusetts, on $114,100, is $83,714; deflated by the state's price level, $77,343. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $120,350 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $114,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $167,180 |
| This salary | $114,100 |
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 | $83,714 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $89,099 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$14,347 |
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 | $106,445 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$19,817 |
| 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 $114,100. The published range is $77,980 up to $167,180, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $83,714, from $114,100, 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 66 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $77,343, the adjusted value of that $114,100 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 66 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for materials engineers in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $77,980 to $167,180. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $83,714 from $114,100. 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 66 of 485 locally.
- This $77,343 adjusted figure, worked from $114,100, 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 66 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 66 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 $120,350, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $77,980 at the bottom tenth to $167,180 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $77,343 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, $83,714 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 $120,350. 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 ($77,980) and the ninetieth ($167,180) 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 $77,343 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 $83,714 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.