Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,947
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$14,603
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,841
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
$68,550
Kept after tax
$53,947
Worth in national money
$49,841
State rank
9
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $68,550, putting the state 9 of 50 — about 14.21% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Massachusetts, this sits in the middle: 243 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 $68,550 the take-home is $53,947. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $49,841 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $69,900, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $68,550, ranking 9 of 50 and running about 14.21% 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.
- Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators ranks 243 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 $53,947 for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, from $68,550. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,841. ⚠️ 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 $69,900 sits above the median, the right skew typical of 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: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,390 |
| This salary | $68,550 |
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 | $53,947 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $57,055 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,872 |
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 | $64,427 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,985 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $68,550 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,980 and the ninetieth is $91,390 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $53,947 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $68,550. 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 243 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,841 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 243.
- The Massachusetts median of $68,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,980 to $91,390. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $53,947, from $68,550, 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 243 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,841, worked from $68,550, 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 243 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $50,980 and the top tenth $91,390, so most people doing this work in Massachusetts sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $49,841 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 $53,947 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($50,980 to $91,390) 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 $49,841 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 $53,947 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.