Millwrights in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,643
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$13,577
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,713
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
$65,220
Kept after tax
$51,643
Worth in national money
$47,713
State rank
23
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Massachusetts pays millwrights around $65,220 at the midpoint, 23 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 253 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $65,220, tax leaves $51,643 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $47,713 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $67,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- For millwrights the Massachusetts median is $65,220, ranking 23 of 48 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.
- Millwrights ranks 253 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.
- After tax, $51,643 remains from the Massachusetts median of $65,220 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $47,713 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $67,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Millwrights
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,610 |
| This salary | $65,220 |
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 | $51,643 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,584 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,458 |
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 | $61,560 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,230 |
| 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 millwrights in Massachusetts earn under $65,220 and half over. The published range runs $57,870 at the tenth percentile to $78,610 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $51,643, from $65,220, 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 253 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 $47,713, the adjusted value of that $65,220 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 253 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for millwrights in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,870 to $78,610; 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.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $51,643 from $65,220. 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 253 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $47,713 — the adjusted value of that $65,220 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 253 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 $67,380 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 $57,870 at the bottom tenth to $78,610 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 $47,713 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $51,643.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $67,380. 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 ($57,870 to $78,610) 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 $47,713 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 $51,643 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.