Substitute Teachers, Short-Term in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,657
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$7,693
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,096
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
$41,350
Kept after tax
$33,657
Worth in national money
$31,096
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for substitute teachers, short-term is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $41,350, putting the state 16 of 50 — about 0.77% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Massachusetts this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 437. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Massachusetts is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $41,350 the take-home is $33,657; in national-average money that behaves like $31,096. The average comes to $45,830, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For substitute teachers, short-term, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $41,350, ranking 16 of 50 and running about 0.77% 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.
- Against every occupation Massachusetts reports, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 437 of 485, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Take-home for substitute teachers, short-term in Massachusetts, on $41,350, is $33,657; deflated by the state's price level, $31,096. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $45,830 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Substitute Teachers, Short-Term
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,930 |
| This salary | $41,350 |
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 | $33,657 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,405 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,338 |
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 | $39,175 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,456 |
| 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 $41,350. The published range is $33,590 up to $58,930, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $33,657, worked from $41,350. 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 437 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Massachusetts, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,096, the adjusted value of that $41,350 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 437 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for substitute teachers, short-term in Massachusetts the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,590 to $58,930. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $33,657, on $41,350 for work ranking 437 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 437 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Massachusetts, so $31,096 — the adjusted value of that $41,350 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 437 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 $45,830, 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 — $33,590 at the tenth percentile, $58,930 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 $31,096 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, $33,657 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $45,830. 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 ($33,590 to $58,930) 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 $31,096 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 $33,657 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.