Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,158
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$11,782
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,645
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
$57,940
Kept after tax
$46,158
Worth in national money
$42,645
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Massachusetts is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $57,940, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 21.88% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations Massachusetts reports figures for, this is number 316.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $57,940, tax leaves $46,158 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $42,645 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $58,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, at $57,940 — about 21.88% 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.
- In Massachusetts's occupational distribution, secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive sits at 316 of 485 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $46,158 remains from the Massachusetts median of $57,940 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $42,645 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $58,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,400 |
| This salary | $57,940 |
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 | $46,158 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,735 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,507 |
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 | $54,733 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,079 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Massachusetts earn less than $57,940. The published range is $41,510 up to $78,400, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $46,158 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $57,940. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 316 of 485.
- Two cautions on $42,645, the adjusted value of that $57,940 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 316 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,510 to $78,400. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $46,158, from $57,940, assumes a single Massachusetts filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 316 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- This $42,645 adjusted figure, worked from $57,940, 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 316 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 316 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $41,510 at the bottom tenth to $78,400 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 $42,645 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 $46,158 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 ($41,510 to $78,400) 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 $42,645 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 $46,158 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.