Medical Assistants in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,768
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$9,692
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,741
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
$49,460
Kept after tax
$39,768
Worth in national money
$36,741
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Massachusetts pays medical assistants a middle wage of $49,460, ranking 7 of 51 states and sitting about 8.25% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Massachusetts, this one sits low: 365 of 485 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,460, tax leaves $39,768 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,741 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $51,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts's median for medical assistants is $49,460, about 8.25% above the national figure and 7 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Medical assistants occupies position 365 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, $39,768 remains from the Massachusetts median of $49,460 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,741 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $51,850 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: Medical Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,870 |
| This salary | $49,460 |
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 | $39,768 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,921 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,398 |
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 | $46,780 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,738 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,460 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,280 and the ninetieth is $61,870 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $39,768, worked from $49,460. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 365 of 485.
- Two cautions on $36,741, the adjusted value of that $49,460 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 365 of 485 locally.
- The Massachusetts median of $49,460 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,280 to $61,870. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $39,768, on $49,460 for work ranking 365 of 485 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 365 of 485 in the state.
- This $36,741 adjusted figure, worked from $49,460, 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 365 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 365 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 $51,850 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $43,280 at the bottom tenth to $61,870 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $36,741 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Massachusetts then takes its own share, leaving $39,768.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $51,850. 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 ($43,280 to $61,870) 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 $36,741 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 $39,768 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.