Average Income in Massachusetts for Every Occupation Is Below $1 Million

Key Takeaways

  • BLS data show that no occupation in MA has an average income that exceeds about $350,000 per year.
  • The Fair Share Amendment would affect only those taxpayers with incomes above $1 million.
  • This means fewer than 7 in every thousand households would pay any additional tax under Fair Share.
  • Even those few households that would be affected would pay additional tax only on the portion of their income above $1 million.

According to the most current federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data for Massachusetts (2021), average income for every occupation listed falls far below the $1 million threshold proposed in the Fair Share Amendment. BLS tracks many types of state and federal data related to how workers are faring. Among these data are state-by-state measures of the average income received by workers in over 750 different occupational categories. (Fair Share would create a “millionaire tax” in Massachusetts, which would apply an additional 4 percent tax to the portion of a household’s income above $1 million.)

The highest paid occupations in Massachusetts are radiologists, anesthesiologists, cardiologists and surgeons of every type, all of which have average incomes between about $300,000 and $350,000 a year. Even a married couple with both partners earning the occupational average for these medical specialties would fall far below the Fair Share threshold. Other highly compensated occupations also have average incomes far below $1 million. These include dentists and orthodontists, lawyers, financial managers, computer programmers and database managers, nuclear and aerospace engineers.

More than 99% of Mass. taxpayers would not pay any extra taxes under the Fair Share Amendment. Graphic displaying the average annual income for various occupations across the state are not anywhere close to the $1 million dollar threshold for the proposed new tax.

The Fair Share Amendment would affect only the very few taxpayers in Massachusetts with taxable incomes above $1 million a year – fewer than 7 in every thousand households. That’s only about 24,000 households out of the more than 3.5 million households that file taxes in Massachusetts each year.

Latest

MassBudget Statement on the 2023 Tax Relief Package

Today, the conference committee presented the biggest package of tax changes in 15 years. We commend them for taking important steps to improve affordability for
Read More →

Testimony in Support of Raising the Minimum Wage

MassBudget's Policy Director Phineas Baxandall urges the Joint Committee on Labor & Workforce Development to pass a bill to increase the minimum wage out of
Read More →

New Census Data Highlights Need for Family Tax Credits Waiting in State House

While the Massachusetts Legislature debates two versions of expanded tax credits to improve affordability for families, new census data dramatically show what a difference these
Read More →
Scroll to Top

Get news from Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center in your inbox.