Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,782
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$20,348
23.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,852
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
$85,130
Kept after tax
$64,782
Worth in national money
$59,852
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $85,130, putting the state 8 of 51 — about 6.08% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 158 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $85,130 the take-home is $64,782; in national-average money that behaves like $59,852. The average comes to $95,000, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $85,130, ranking 8 of 51 and running about 6.08% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary ranks 158 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.
- Take-home for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts, on $85,130, is $64,782; deflated by the state's price level, $59,852. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $95,000 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $138,240 |
| This salary | $85,130 |
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 | $64,782 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,719 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,865 |
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 | $79,534 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,008 |
| 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 nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts earn under $85,130 and half over. The published range runs $62,200 at the tenth percentile to $138,240 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $64,782, from $85,130, 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 158 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 $59,852, the adjusted value of that $85,130 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 158 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $62,200 to $138,240; 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 $64,782 from $85,130. 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 158 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $59,852 — the adjusted value of that $85,130 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 158 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 $95,000, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $62,200, the highest tenth $138,240, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $59,852 — 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 $64,782.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $95,000. 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 ($62,200) and the ninetieth ($138,240) 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 $59,852 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 $64,782 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.