Human Resources Specialists Average Salary in Massachusetts
$95,400 average · $95,400 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 13-1071What is this?
This page shows employer-reported wages for Human Resources Specialists in Massachusetts, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. Industry choice is the dominant pay lever: the same analyst role pays substantially more in finance, tech, or energy than in education, nonprofits, or local government. Professional credentials (CPA, PHR, PMP, CFA) reliably move workers from the median toward the 75th percentile because they are contractually required for certain work, not merely decorative.
How much do Human Resources Specialists make in Massachusetts?
The average human resources specialists salary in Massachusetts is $95,400 per year. That works out to about $45.87 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 27,300 human resources specialists jobs in Massachusetts.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $95,400. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $95,400; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $95,400 — a 0% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Business and Financial Operations Careers Are Structured
Business and financial operations specialists — analysts, accountants, HR specialists, buyers, project managers — form the professional middle layer of nearly every industry. The work is office-based and increasingly remote-friendly, which means the geographic wage gaps shown in this data are gradually being arbitraged by remote hiring in ways the survey is only beginning to reflect.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how human resources specialists pay is distributed in Massachusetts specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
Industry choice is the dominant pay lever: the same analyst role pays substantially more in finance, tech, or energy than in education, nonprofits, or local government. Professional credentials (CPA, PHR, PMP, CFA) reliably move workers from the median toward the 75th percentile because they are contractually required for certain work, not merely decorative.
Entry typically requires a bachelor's degree, but the field is unusually open to career-changers because the core skills — analysis, communication, process discipline — transfer across industries. Early-career workers should weight employers by what they teach: two years in a rigorous environment moves you up this distribution faster than five in a lax one.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
What Do Human Resources Specialists Do?
Human Resources Specialists positions belong to the business and financial operations field. Business and financial operations specialists — analysts, accountants, HR specialists, buyers, project managers — form the professional middle layer of nearly every industry. The work is office-based and increasingly remote-friendly, which means the geographic wage gaps shown in this data are gradually being arbitraged by remote hiring in ways the survey is only beginning to reflect.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 13-1071
Human Resources Specialists pay in Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, human resources specialists report a median of $95,400 (about $45.87/hour) across roughly 27,300 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $95,400 at the 10th percentile to $95,400 at the 90th.
Compared with the national distribution, local industry mix and cost of living are the main reasons Massachusetts wages for this occupation sit where they do — toggle Regional Price Parity on this page to see purchasing-power-adjusted pay.
What your paycheck is really worth in Massachusetts
Prices in Massachusetts run 6% above the national average (RPP 105.8). So a nominal salary of $95,400 has the buying power of about $90,207 in national terms.
Massachusetts vs. United States for Human Resources Specialists
The median human resources specialists salary in Massachusetts is $95,400, which is +17.5% above the national median of $81,210 (mean pay is +16.7% above the U.S. mean of $81,718). Among 51 states and D.C. with OEWS data, Massachusetts ranks #2 by median wage for this occupation (top tier). Massachusetts accounts for about 0.5% of U.S. human resources specialists employment in the latest OEWS release.
See every state ranked for this occupation on the best-paying states page, or compare purchasing power on real wages.
Income reality check
The median salary for Human Resources Specialists in Massachusetts of $95,400 falls in the Comfortable band of this framework - roughly ~12% of the U.S. population and ~7% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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Occupation Report Card
Top Industries for Human Resources Specialists
| $92,230 | $82,800 | $44 | 249,980 | |
| $88,534 | $82,000 | $43 | 218,610 | |
| $76,620 | $72,460 | $37 | 94,260 | |
| $70,120 | $64,130 | $34 | 105,300 | |
| $69,981 | $61,086 | $34 | 443,720 |
Related Occupations
SOC: 13-1082 • 84% match | $110,450 | $110,740 | $53 | 5,713,120 |
SOC: 13-1161 • 84% match | $89,203 | $89,790 | $43 | 4,666,320 |
SOC: 41-4012 • 84% match | $82,508 | $82,530 | $40 | 6,224,740 |
SOC: 41-3091 • 84% match | $82,228 | $82,450 | $40 | 6,502,670 |
| Find Occupation 41 3091 Jobs | ||||
SOC: 25-2031 • 93% match | $76,487 | $76,410 | $37 | 8,356,230 |
SOC: 25-2021 • 92% match | $72,861 | $72,710 | $35 | 10,929,790 |
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