Massachusetts · BLS May 2025

How much do foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary make in Massachusetts?

Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts earn a median of $98,750 a year, about $6,140 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 960 of these jobs in Massachusetts in May 2025.

Median pay · Massachusetts

$98,750A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.
Take-home a month$6,140After federal, state and FICA tax at 25.4%
Worth at national prices$93,374Prices here sit at 105.8 against 100
Against the nation24.4% aboveNational median $79,350
What foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn in Massachusetts, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$63,100Not published
25th percentile$81,480Not published
MedianHalf earn more, half less$98,750Not published
75th percentile$127,190Not published
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$164,060Not published
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$109,700Not published

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in MassachusettsBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$98,750
  2. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$6,140 a month at an effective rate of 25.4%.$73,683 a year
  3. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Massachusetts sit at 105.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$93,374
  4. Against the national medianThe national median is $79,350.24.4% above
  5. Jobs countedA concentration of 2.07 against the nation's 1.00.960
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.
  • BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
  • 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 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $98,750 in Massachusetts, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$98,750
$60,000$165,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$98,750
Net 75%
Fed 13%
MA 5%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$73,683After all taxes
Monthly deposit$6,140Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$2,834Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate25.4%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$12,895 / yr
Massachusetts state income tax$4,618 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$7,554 / yr

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 $98,750 is worth in Massachusetts

Prices in Massachusetts sit at 105.8 against a national average of 100, so $98,750 earned here buys what $93,374 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 0.95 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 107% more concentrated in Massachusetts than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts

Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary hold 2.1 times the share of jobs in Massachusetts that they hold nationally, with 960 counted.

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 gap between the ends is wide: the 90th percentile ($164,060) is 2.6 times the 10th ($63,100). The survey does not say who sits where in that range. It records no experience, shift or employer.

The median in Massachusetts is 24.4% above the national median of $79,350.

Common questions

Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary pay in Massachusetts, answered

How much do foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary make in Massachusetts?

The median wage for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts is $98,750 a year.

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 Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary salary in Massachusetts?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts is $109,700 a year. The median is $98,750.

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 starting salary for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary 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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn under $63,100 a year and a quarter earn under $81,480.

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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts?

The overall salary range for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts spans from $63,100 for the bottom 10% to $164,060 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $81,480 and $127,190 a year, with the overall median at $98,750.

What is the take-home pay for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Massachusetts?

On the median wage of $98,750, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $73,683 a year, or roughly $6,140 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 25.4%.

Massachusetts takes $4,618 of it in state income tax.

How much does foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary make a month in Massachusetts?

On the median annual salary of $98,750, estimated take-home pay is roughly $6,140 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 $2,834 net.

Do foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn more in Massachusetts than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in Massachusetts is 24.4% above the national median of $79,350.

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 $98,750 a good salary in Massachusetts?

It is 0.95 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 $98,750 here buys about what $93,374 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn in Massachusetts?

The top tenth earn $164,060 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $63,100.

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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary are there in Massachusetts?

The survey counted 960 of these jobs in Massachusetts for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 107% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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