Public Safety Telecommunicators in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,006
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$12,714
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,276
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
$61,720
Kept after tax
$49,006
Worth in national money
$45,276
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 $61,720, putting the state 8 of 51 — about 16.37% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 280 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 $61,720, tax leaves $49,006 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $45,276 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $62,680, since top earners drag the number up.
- For public safety telecommunicators, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $61,720, ranking 8 of 51 and running about 16.37% 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.
- Public safety telecommunicators ranks 280 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, $49,006 remains from the Massachusetts median of $61,720 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $45,276 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $62,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Public Safety Telecommunicators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,470 |
| This salary | $61,720 |
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 | $49,006 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,772 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,001 |
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 | $58,278 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,676 |
| 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 public safety telecommunicators in Massachusetts earn under $61,720 and half over. The published range runs $48,470 at the tenth percentile to $79,470 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $49,006, from $61,720, 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 280 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $45,276, the adjusted value of that $61,720 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Massachusetts. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 280 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for public safety telecommunicators in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,470 to $79,470; 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 $49,006 from $61,720. 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 280 of 485 locally.
- This $45,276 adjusted figure, worked from $61,720, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 280 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 280 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $48,470 at the bottom tenth to $79,470 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $45,276 rather than its face figure.
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 $49,006 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,470 to $79,470) 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 $45,276 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 $49,006 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.