Power Plant Operators in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,591
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$25,549
25.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,914
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
$100,140
Kept after tax
$74,591
Worth in national money
$68,914
State rank
29
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts sits in the middle of the pack for power plant operators. The median is $100,140, ranking 29 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Massachusetts this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, power plant operators ranks 115 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $100,140 the take-home is $74,591; in national-average money that behaves like $68,914. The average lands at $99,500, below the middle of the range.
- Massachusetts occupies the middle band for power plant operators: a median of $100,140, ranking 29 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Ranked against every occupation Massachusetts publishes a median for, power plant operators sits 115 of 485 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Take-home for power plant operators in Massachusetts, on $100,140, is $74,591; deflated by the state's price level, $68,914. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $99,500 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $68,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,850 |
| This salary | $100,140 |
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 | $74,591 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,278 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,669 |
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 | $93,478 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,500 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,140 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $68,150 and the ninetieth is $130,850 — 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 $74,591, worked from $100,140. 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 115 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,914 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 115.
- The Massachusetts median of $100,140 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $68,150 to $130,850. 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 $74,591, on $100,140 for work ranking 115 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 115 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,914, worked from $100,140, 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 115 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $68,150 at the tenth percentile, $130,850 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $68,914 rather than its face figure.
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, $74,591 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($68,150 to $130,850) 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 $68,914 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 $74,591 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.