Surveyors in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,965
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$23,625
25.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,563
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
$94,590
Kept after tax
$70,965
Worth in national money
$65,563
State rank
4
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for surveyors is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $94,590, putting the state 4 of 50 — about 25.38% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 137 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $94,590 the take-home is $70,965. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $65,563 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $92,110, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For surveyors, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $94,590, ranking 4 of 50 and running about 25.38% 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.
- Surveyors ranks 137 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $70,965 for surveyors, from $94,590. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $65,563. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $92,110 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Surveyors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $94,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,410 |
| This salary | $94,590 |
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 | $70,965 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $75,374 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,002 |
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 | $88,322 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,578 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $94,590 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $57,880 and the ninetieth is $129,410 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Massachusetts's $70,965, worked from $94,590. 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 137 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $65,563 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 137.
- The Massachusetts median of $94,590 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $57,880 to $129,410. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Massachusetts take-home of $70,965, on $94,590 for work ranking 137 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 137 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $65,563, worked from $94,590, 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 137 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $57,880, the highest tenth $129,410, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $65,563 — 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 $70,965 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($57,880) and the ninetieth ($129,410) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $65,563 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 $70,965 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.