Soil and Plant Scientists in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,817
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$15,063
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,644
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
$69,880
Kept after tax
$54,817
Worth in national money
$50,644
State rank
29
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Massachusetts is 29 of 46 states for soil and plant scientists, with a middle wage of $69,880. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 238 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $69,880 the take-home is $54,817; in national-average money that behaves like $50,644. The average comes to $77,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Massachusetts ranks 29 of 46 for soil and plant scientists at $69,880. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Soil and plant scientists ranks 238 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.
- Take-home for soil and plant scientists in Massachusetts, on $69,880, is $54,817; deflated by the state's price level, $50,644. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $77,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Soil and Plant Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $69,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,830 |
| This salary | $69,880 |
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 | $54,817 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $57,991 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,032 |
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 | $65,509 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,344 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $69,880 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,110 and the ninetieth is $89,830 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Massachusetts the take-home figure of $54,817, from $69,880, 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 238 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 $50,644 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 238.
- The Massachusetts median of $69,880 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,110 to $89,830. 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 $54,817 from $69,880. 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 238 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,644, worked from $69,880, 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 238 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $77,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $63,110 at the tenth percentile, $89,830 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 $50,644 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $54,817 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 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $77,160. 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 ($63,110 to $89,830) 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 $50,644 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 $54,817 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.