Median pay · Massachusetts
$72,800A year, or $35 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $49,730 | $24 |
| 25th percentile | $61,800 | $30 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $72,800 | $35 |
| 75th percentile | $80,070 | $38 |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $98,130 | $47 |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $73,220 | $35 |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in MassachusettsBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$72,800
- Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$35.00
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$4,727 a month at an effective rate of 22.1%.$56,725 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Massachusetts sit at 105.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$68,837
- Against the national medianThe national median is $59,280.22.8% above
- Jobs countedA concentration of 1.48 against the nation's 1.00.11,940
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
What lands in the bank
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $72,800 in Massachusetts, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $72,800 is worth in Massachusetts
Prices in Massachusetts sit at 105.8 against a national average of 100, so $72,800 earned here buys what $68,837 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 128.1 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Massachusetts takes in $103,960, so this occupation's median is 0.7 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 48% more concentrated in Massachusetts than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for firefighters in Massachusetts
Rents in Massachusetts index at 128.1 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 105.8, a gap of +22.3 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.
The top of the pay range is stretched out. Going from the 75th to the 90th percentile adds $18,060, against $7,270 from the median to the 75th. The best-paid 10% of firefighters in Massachusetts make $98,130 or more.
Massachusetts employs 11,940 firefighters, and the job is 1.5 times as concentrated here as in the country as a whole.
The median in Massachusetts is 22.8% above the national median of $59,280.
Common questions
Firefighter pay in Massachusetts, answered
How much does a firefighter make in Massachusetts?
The median wage for firefighters in Massachusetts is $72,800 a year, or $35.00 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average firefighter salary in Massachusetts?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for firefighters in Massachusetts is $73,220 a year. The median is $72,800.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the hourly pay for a firefighter in Massachusetts?
The median hourly wage is $35.00. At a full-time year that lines up with about $72,800 a year.
BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.
What is the starting salary for a firefighter in Massachusetts?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Massachusetts, the lowest-paid 10% of firefighters earn under $49,730 a year and a quarter earn under $61,800 ($23.91 and $29.71 an hour).
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for a firefighter in Massachusetts?
The overall salary range for firefighters in Massachusetts spans from $49,730 for the bottom 10% to $98,130 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $61,800 and $80,070 a year, with the overall median at $72,800.
What is the take-home pay for a firefighter in Massachusetts?
On the median wage of $72,800, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $56,725 a year, or roughly $4,727 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 22.1%.
Massachusetts takes $3,320 of it in state income tax.
How much does a firefighter make a month in Massachusetts?
On the median annual salary of $72,800, estimated take-home pay is roughly $4,727 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $2,182 net.
Do firefighters earn more in Massachusetts than in the rest of the country?
Yes. The median in Massachusetts is 22.8% above the national median of $59,280.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Massachusetts sit at 105.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $72,800 a good salary in Massachusetts?
It is 0.7 times the median household income of $103,960. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Massachusetts run at 105.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 128.1, so $72,800 here buys about what $68,837 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid firefighters earn in Massachusetts?
The top tenth earn $98,130 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $49,730.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Massachusetts someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many firefighters are there in Massachusetts?
The survey counted 11,940 of these jobs in Massachusetts for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 48% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.