Printing Press Operators in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,473
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$10,577
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,241
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
$53,050
Kept after tax
$42,473
Worth in national money
$39,241
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for printing press operators. The middle earner takes $53,050, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 15.88% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Printing press operators ranks 342 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $53,050 the take-home is $42,473; in national-average money that behaves like $39,241. The average comes to $55,430, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for printing press operators, at $53,050 — about 15.88% 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.
- Position 342 of 485 in Massachusetts places printing press operators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for printing press operators in Massachusetts, on $53,050, is $42,473; deflated by the state's price level, $39,241. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $55,430 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Printing Press Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,310 |
| This salary | $53,050 |
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 | $42,473 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,806 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,868 |
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 | $50,147 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,306 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,050 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,430 and the ninetieth is $75,310 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $42,473, from $53,050, 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 342 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 $39,241 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 342.
- The Massachusetts median of $53,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,430 to $75,310. 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 $42,473 from $53,050. 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 342 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,241, worked from $53,050, 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 342 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 $55,430, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,430 at the tenth percentile, $75,310 at the ninetieth.
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 $39,241 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Massachusetts adds its own income tax on top — which is why $42,473 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $55,430. 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 ($39,430 to $75,310) 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 $39,241 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 $42,473 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.