Medical Transcriptionists in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,312
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$6,598
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,005
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
$36,910
Kept after tax
$30,312
Worth in national money
$28,005
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for medical transcriptionists is on the low side in Massachusetts. The middle earner gets $36,910. That is 39 of 50 states, and about 8.66% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, medical transcriptionists lands at 468. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $36,910, tax leaves $30,312 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,005 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $40,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- For medical transcriptionists, Massachusetts sits in the lower band at $36,910, ranking 39 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 8.66%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Massachusetts, this work ranks 468 of 485 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $30,312 remains from the Massachusetts median of $36,910 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,005 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $40,060 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Transcriptionists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,000 |
| This salary | $36,910 |
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 | $30,312 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,837 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,758 |
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 | $35,011 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,754 |
| 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 medical transcriptionists in Massachusetts earn under $36,910 and half over. The published range runs $36,440 at the tenth percentile to $47,000 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $30,312 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $36,910. 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 468 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,005, the adjusted value of that $36,910 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 468 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical transcriptionists in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,440 to $47,000; 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 $30,312, from $36,910, 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 468 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $28,005 — the adjusted value of that $36,910 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 468 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 $40,060 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 $36,440 at the bottom tenth to $47,000 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $28,005 — 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, $30,312 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $40,060. 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 ($36,440 to $47,000) 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 $28,005 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 $30,312 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.