Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,646
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$12,924
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,868
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
$62,570
Kept after tax
$49,646
Worth in national money
$45,868
State rank
6
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 $62,570, which ranks 6 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 16.41% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 270 among 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $62,570, tax leaves $49,646 — and because Massachusetts is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $45,868 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $65,050, since top earners drag the number up.
- Massachusetts ranks 6 of 51 states publishing a median for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, at $62,570 — about 16.41% 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.
- Position 270 of 485 in Massachusetts places welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $49,646 remains from the Massachusetts median of $62,570 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $45,868 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $65,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,430 |
| This salary | $62,570 |
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 | $49,646 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,455 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,112 |
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 | $59,075 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,811 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,570 as a midpoint for Massachusetts, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,720 and the ninetieth is $83,430 — 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 $49,646, worked from $62,570. 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 270 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,868 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 270.
- The Massachusetts median of $62,570 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,720 to $83,430. 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 $49,646, on $62,570 for work ranking 270 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 270 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,868, worked from $62,570, 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 270 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 $65,050 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $47,720 at the bottom tenth to $83,430 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 $45,868 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, $49,646 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $65,050. 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 ($47,720 to $83,430) 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 $45,868 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 $49,646 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.