Order Clerks in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,973
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$11,067
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,626
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
$55,040
Kept after tax
$43,973
Worth in national money
$40,626
State rank
1
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for order clerks. The middle earner takes $55,040, which ranks 1 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 19.21% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 337 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 $55,040, tax leaves $43,973 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $40,626 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $56,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts ranks 1 of 48 states publishing a median for order clerks, at $55,040 — about 19.21% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Order clerks ranks 337 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, $43,973 remains from the Massachusetts median of $55,040 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $40,626 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $56,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Order Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,920 |
| This salary | $55,040 |
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 | $43,973 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,405 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,128 |
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 | $52,013 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,620 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $55,040 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,750 and the ninetieth is $72,920 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $43,973, from $55,040, 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 337 of 485 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,626 uses one figure for the whole of Massachusetts. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 337.
- The Massachusetts median of $55,040 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,750 to $72,920. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Massachusetts is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $43,973 from $55,040. 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 337 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,626, worked from $55,040, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Massachusetts address, on work sitting at 337 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $56,920, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $45,750 at the bottom tenth to $72,920 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 $40,626 of national purchasing power.
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, $43,973 remains.
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 $56,920. 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 ($45,750 to $72,920) 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 $40,626 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 $43,973 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.