Retail Salespersons salary in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

The figures

The median Retail Salespersons in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area earns $36,850 a year ($17.72 an hour), according to the BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates (full citation in Sources). The middle half of Retail Salespersons in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn between $35,410 and $42,180 a year. At the ends of the distribution, the lowest-paid 10 percent earn $34,000 or less and the top 10 percent earn $48,260 or more. BLS estimates 64,150 Retail Salespersons jobs in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area — 23.727 of every 1,000 jobs in the area, a location quotient of 0.95 (about the same concentration as the nation). That is 1.6% of all Retail Salespersons employment in the United States (3,897,860 jobs nationally). By employment, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is the #10 largest of the 25 covered metro areas for Retail Salespersons. In aggregate, Retail Salespersons in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn about $2.59 billion a year (BLS employment multiplied by the mean wage). At the mean wage, the engine's take-home is $32,880.88 a year, so the aggregate take-home of Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Retail Salespersons is about $2.11 billion. BLS reports a relative standard error of 2.8% for this employment estimate. Ranked by median pay, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH stands #8 of the 25 metro areas covered on this site for Retail Salespersons. By employment, Retail Salespersons is the #4 largest of the 30 covered occupations in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. Placed against the national distribution for Retail Salespersons, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median of $36,850 falls between the national median ($35,410) and the national 75th percentile ($38,670). Across all occupations, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median is $66,620 a year — Retail Salespersons pay is 44.7% below the area's overall median.

Wages in detail

What the wage distribution says

The top 10 percent of Retail Salespersons in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn 1.4 times what the bottom 10 percent earn ($48,260 against $34,000). The middle half spans $6,770 — from $35,410 to $42,180. Hourly, the 90th percentile ($23.20) is 1.42 times the 10th ($16.35). In the upper half of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH distribution, the 75th percentile wage of $42,180 takes home $34,282.76 and the 90th percentile wage of $48,260 takes home $38,864.12 — $4,581.36 more net for $6,080 more gross. Against the median take-home of $30,266.54, the top decile keeps 1.28 times as much. The mean wage of $40,320 sits 9.4% above the median: higher-paid Retail Salespersons pull the average up in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. Among the 30 covered occupations in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, Retail Salespersons ranks #28 by median pay. In the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH wage ladder of covered occupations, Retail Salespersons sits between Stockers and Order Fillers at $37,700 and Fast Food and Counter Workers at $36,290. Retail Salespersons accounts for 2.4% of all employment in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area. The average covered metro employs 64,365 Retail Salespersons; Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH employs 1.0 times that.

Take-home pay on the median wage in Massachusetts

Single filer, no dependents, no pre-tax contributions, paid biweekly, a full year of W-2 wages in Massachusetts; city and local taxes are not included:

At the median, $30,266.54 of the $36,850 gross is kept ($1,164.10 per paycheck) — a deduction rate of 17.87%. The deduction rate moves with pay: 17.30% at the 10th percentile, 17.59% at the 25th percentile, 18.72% at the 75th percentile, 19.47% at the 90th percentile. Between the 25th and 75th percentile wages, annual take-home rises by $5,101.32 on a gross rise of $6,770.

The same engine at the other published points of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH wage distribution:

Across the published distribution, take-home pay runs from $28,118.80 a year at the 10th percentile to $38,864.12 at the 90th — a spread of $10,745.32 of net pay inside one occupation and one metro area.

For scale: across all occupations, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median wage of $66,620 takes home $52,686.34 a year ($2,026.40 per paycheck, deduction rate 20.92%). The Retail Salespersons median take-home of $30,266.54 sits $22,419.80 (below that area-wide figure.

Multi-state metro area. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH also covers parts of New Hampshire. The take-home estimate above uses Massachusetts rules — the metro area's primary state. If the job is based in another part of the metro area, the state tax changes: see the New Hampshire paycheck calculator.

Run your own numbers

Your own withholding depends on your Form W-4, your benefits and your other income — run your exact figures through the calculator:

Take-home pay for $36,850 in Massachusetts

Against the national median

Nationally, the median Retail Salespersons earns $35,410 a year ($17.03 an hour). The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median of $36,850 is $1,440 (4.1%) above the national median.

The means rank the area the same way: $40,320 a year in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH against $37,310 nationally, a gap of $3,010 (8.1%).

Set against the whole local market, the Retail Salespersons 90th percentile of $48,260 is 29% of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH all-occupations 90th percentile ($168,090), and its 10th percentile of $34,000 is 92% of the area-wide 10th ($36,760).

Sources and method

Wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates (released May 15, 2026), retrieved October 27, 2026 — bls.gov/oes. OEWS figures are survey estimates for May 2025, not job offers. Take-home pay is computed by this site's paycheck engine with 2026 federal and state rules; the method, and what the engine does not model, is documented in the paycheck methodology guide. Estimates only — not tax advice.