What Child, Family, and School Social Workers earn in Essex County, MA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area, the median pay for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA is $77,420 a year, or $37.22 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $59,365 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Essex County, MA.
The mean wage is $78,950, which is 2.0% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,070 people working in this occupation across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Essex County, MA has roughly 813,054 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $49,970 a year ($24.02 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $108,810 or more ($52.31 an hour). That is a gap of $58,840 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $62,150 at the 25th percentile and $97,860 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.2 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA is $37.22. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $77,420, and the same salary is $6,452 a month before taxes or about $2,978 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $28.54 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Child, Family, and School Social Workers this way: "Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents, arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy. May also advise teachers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs"; "Counsel individuals, groups, families, or communities regarding issues including mental health, poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, physical abuse, rehabilitation, social adjustment, child care, or medical care"; "Maintain case history records and prepare reports"; "Consult with parents, teachers, and other school personnel to determine causes of problems, such as truancy and misbehavior, and to implement solutions".
Job outlook for Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 405,100 jobs in 2025 to 422,900 in 2035, a change of +4.4%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 33,900 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 8.4% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $59,550 for this occupation; the Essex County, MA median of $77,420 is 30.0% above it.
How pay in Essex County, MA compares
Compared with the Massachusetts average
Essex County, MA pays above the state benchmark. The Massachusetts employment-weighted average for Child, Family, and School Social Workers is $74,992; the local median of $77,420 beats it by $2,428, or 3.2%. Within Massachusetts, Essex County, MA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Child, Family, and School Social Workers is $60,796 across the contiguous United States. At $77,420, Essex County, MA pays $16,624 more, which is 27.3% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Essex County, MA
Among the 581 occupations with published wages in Essex County, MA, Child, Family, and School Social Workers ranks number 268 by median pay, ahead of about 54% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Natural Sciences Managers at $291,000 a year, which is $213,580 more than the median for Child, Family, and School Social Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $77,420 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $18,055 a year, which leaves $59,365, or $4,947 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $23 goes to taxes and $77 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 23.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $61,670. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $8,481, an effective 11.0% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $4,800 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,123. FICA totals $5,923, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Massachusetts
Massachusetts income tax on this salary is $3,651 a year, or 4.7% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 43% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $304 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Essex County, MA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Essex County, MA show an average adjusted gross income of $109,831 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.9% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 10.0%, compared with the 11.0% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Essex County, MA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Essex County, MA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $59,365 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Essex County, MA is $2,245 a month, or $26,940 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,761 a month. For Child, Family, and School Social Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 45.4% of take-home pay and 34.8% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 4.4% of gross pay for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Massachusetts residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,101 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $867, for $3,968 in total. Gasoline in Massachusetts averages $3.33 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,542.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $35,885 a year, 60% of take-home pay. That leaves $23,480 a year, or $1,957 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 30.3% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Essex County, MA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Essex County, MA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. 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.
Property taxes in Essex County, MA
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 and 106% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $619,100, the median tax bill is 1.04% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Child, Family, and School Social Workers median of $77,420, a tax bill of that size would equal 8.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Essex County, MA
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 Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,245 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $619,100, 10% above the Massachusetts median of $562,100. Median household income is $101,883, 2% below the Massachusetts median of $103,960, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 26.4% of that income.
Commuting in Essex County, MA
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. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 16.4% of workers in Essex County, MA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Child, Family, and School Social Workers afford to live in Essex County, MA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $77,420 that ceiling is $1,936 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,245 is $310 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $43.17 an hour; the median for Child, Family, and School Social Workers is $37.22, which is 14% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $28.54 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 18.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,761 a month means $1,381 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $10,374 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $33,854.
How fast you can save
At $1,957 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 6 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 12 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Child, Family, and School Social Workers pay in Essex County, MA
What is the hourly wage for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA?
The median is $37.22 per hour, based on $77,420 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $24.02 at the 10th percentile to $52.31 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $77,420 becomes $59,365 a year. That is $4,947 a month, $2,283 every two weeks or $1,142 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA?
Total taxes are $18,055 a year, an effective rate of 23.3%: $8,481 federal income tax, $5,923 FICA and $3,651 Massachusetts income tax.
Is pay for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA above the Massachusetts average?
Yes. The local median of $77,420 is +3.2% versus the Massachusetts average of $74,992, a difference of $2,428 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Child, Family, and School Social Workers salary in Essex County, MA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,245 a month against take-home pay of $4,947, which is 45.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,936 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Essex County, MA?
About $1,957 a month ($23,480 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $35,885 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Essex County, MA at the 30% guideline?
$43.17 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,940 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Child, Family, and School Social Workers is $37.22.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Massachusetts rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.