Construction Laborers salary in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

The figures

The median Construction Laborers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area earns $63,420 a year ($30.49 an hour), according to the BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates (full citation in Sources). The middle half of Construction Laborers in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn between $54,540 and $93,830 a year. At the ends of the distribution, the lowest-paid 10 percent earn $46,460 or less and the top 10 percent earn $99,410 or more. BLS estimates 11,580 Construction Laborers jobs in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area — 4.284 of every 1,000 jobs in the area, a location quotient of 0.61 (well below the national concentration). That is 1.1% of all Construction Laborers employment in the United States (1,096,780 jobs nationally). By employment, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is the #18 largest of the 25 covered metro areas for Construction Laborers. In aggregate, Construction Laborers in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn about $0.83 billion a year (BLS employment multiplied by the mean wage). At the mean wage, the engine's take-home is $55,777.30 a year, so the aggregate take-home of Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Construction Laborers is about $0.65 billion. BLS reports a relative standard error of 5.2% for this employment estimate. Ranked by median pay, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH stands #3 of the 25 metro areas covered on this site for Construction Laborers. By employment, Construction Laborers is the #29 largest of the 30 covered occupations in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. Placed against the national distribution for Construction Laborers, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median of $63,420 falls above the national 75th percentile of $59,740. Across all occupations, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median is $66,620 a year — Construction Laborers pay is 4.8% below the area's overall median.

Wages in detail

What the wage distribution says

The top 10 percent of Construction Laborers in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH earn 2.1 times what the bottom 10 percent earn ($99,410 against $46,460). The middle half spans $39,290 — from $54,540 to $93,830. Hourly, the 90th percentile ($47.80) is 2.14 times the 10th ($22.34). In the upper half of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH distribution, the 75th percentile wage of $93,830 takes home $70,467.96 and the 90th percentile wage of $99,410 takes home $74,114.34 — $3,646.38 more net for $5,580 more gross. Against the median take-home of $50,287.14, the top decile keeps 1.47 times as much. The mean wage of $71,350 sits 12.5% above the median: higher-paid Construction Laborers pull the average up in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. Among the 30 covered occupations in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, Construction Laborers ranks #11 by median pay. In the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH wage ladder of covered occupations, Construction Laborers sits between Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers at $64,010 and Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks at $60,960. Construction Laborers accounts for 0.4% of all employment in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area. The average covered metro employs 17,175 Construction Laborers; Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH employs 0.7 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, $50,287.14 of the $63,420 gross is kept ($1,934.12 per paycheck) — a deduction rate of 20.71%. The deduction rate moves with pay: 19.27% at the 10th percentile, 20.07% at the 25th percentile, 24.90% at the 75th percentile, 25.45% at the 90th percentile. Between the 25th and 75th percentile wages, annual take-home rises by $26,872.40 on a gross rise of $39,290.

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 $37,507.68 a year at the 10th percentile to $74,114.34 at the 90th — a spread of $36,606.66 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 Construction Laborers median take-home of $50,287.14 sits $2,399.20 (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 $63,420 in Massachusetts

Against the national median

Nationally, the median Construction Laborers earns $47,120 a year ($22.66 an hour). The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH median of $63,420 is $16,300 (34.6%) above the national median.

The means rank the area the same way: $71,350 a year in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH against $52,030 nationally, a gap of $19,320 (37.1%).

Set against the whole local market, the Construction Laborers 90th percentile of $99,410 is 59% of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH all-occupations 90th percentile ($168,090), and its 10th percentile of $46,460 is 126% 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.