- The middle half earn between $38.44 and $57.85 an hour.
- Only 7 states pay construction supervisors more at the median.
- Massachusetts pays more than 4 of its 5 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 18,330 construction supervisors on payrolls in Massachusetts.
- At the state median wage, a contracting business needs to bill about $153.20 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Construction Supervisor pay in Massachusetts, bottom to top
BLS calls this group first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers: the foremen and crew leads who run the work on site.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $32.53 | $67,660 | $25.62 |
| 25th percentile | $38.44 | $79,960 | $30.48 |
| Median | $47.04 | $97,850 | $38.42 |
| 75th percentile | $57.85 | $120,330 | $48.78 |
| 90th percentile | $64.82 | $134,820 | $61.66 |
| Average (mean) | $48.09 | $100,030 | $41.56 |
Pay is bunched up in Massachusetts. The top tenth earn $64.82 an hour or more, about 2 times the $32.53 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.4 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $32.53 against $25.62 at the bottom tenth, and $64.82 against $61.66 at the top.
The average, $48.09, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Massachusetts compares with other states
Over a full year, the Massachusetts median of $97,850 is $17,930 more than the national $79,920.
In the state ranking, Massachusetts sits 8th, between Rhode Island ($47.40) and California ($46.96). The range runs from $29.44 in Arkansas to $52.68 in Washington.
Against its neighboring states, Massachusetts is in the middle: Rhode Island pays more, and Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont pay less.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Massachusetts. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Massachusetts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $47.04 | $97,850 | |
| Connecticut | $44.36 | $92,260 | −$2.68 an hour |
| New Hampshire | $39.05 | $81,220 | −$7.99 an hour |
| New York | $46.01 | $95,700 | −$1.03 an hour |
| Rhode Island | $47.40 | $98,590 | +$0.36 an hour |
| Vermont | $39.66 | $82,490 | −$7.38 an hour |
How many construction supervisors work in Massachusetts
About 18,330 construction supervisors work on payrolls in Massachusetts, 2.3% of the 812,210 nationwide, the 14th largest count among the states.
That is 5.0 of every 1,000 jobs in Massachusetts, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a contracting business in Massachusetts should charge
Higher wages in Massachusetts go straight into the price. Take a contracting business in Massachusetts paying the state median of $47.04 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $47.04 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $105,328 |
| Break-even rate | ($105,328 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $130.22 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $130.22 ÷ 0.85 | $153.20 |
That is $153.20 per billable hour, 3.3 times the wage, and $15.14 more than the $138.06 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $57.85 in Massachusetts, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $172.18.
At this wage the pay itself is the biggest part of the price, so every raise shows up in the rate: a dollar more an hour adds about $1.76 per billed hour.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-1011, first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: construction supervisor salary by state.