Pay and cost of living in Essex County, MA
Essex County, MA is part of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH labor market, and this page summarizes 101 occupations with published wages there. The median of their median salaries is $75,210 a year. The best-paid occupation listed is Natural Sciences Managers at $291,000, and the lowest is Packers and Packagers, Hand at $33,740.
A one-bedroom apartment in Essex County, MA has a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,245 a month and a two-bedroom $2,761. Rent, food, home energy and gasoline for one adult add up to $35,885 a year. After federal, FICA and state income taxes, the average occupation here takes home $63,031 a year, and 83 of the 101 occupations listed here (82%) earn enough take-home pay to cover the four basics.
Each occupation links to a detailed page with gross pay, take-home pay, rent, food and energy costs, and the monthly budget margin. All pages share one method, which makes it easy to compare jobs inside Essex County, MA or against other counties.
Housing, taxes and commute in Essex County, MA
The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Essex County, MA, set beside the Massachusetts and national medians.
Median household income in Essex County, MA is $101,883, 2% below the Massachusetts median of $103,960 and $80,734 nationally. A year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent ($26,940) equals 26.4% of that income. The median of the occupation medians listed here, $75,210, is 26% below household income, which is expected because a household can hold more than one earner.
Homeowners in Essex County, MA pay a median of $6,430 a year in real estate taxes, 7% above the Massachusetts median of $5,992. With a median home value of $619,100, 10% above the Massachusetts median of $562,100, the ratio of the two medians is 1.04% a year.
Renters in Essex County, MA pay a median gross rent of $1,756 a month in the Census survey, in line with the Massachusetts median of $1,762. HUD's one-bedroom Fair Market Rent used for the budgets on this site is $2,245; the Census figure covers rental units of every size.
Workers in Essex County, MA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.5 minutes each way, 2% below the Massachusetts average of 29.1. 16.4% of workers work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally.