School Principal salary in Massachusetts

Official occupation: 11-9032 Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary · Reference period May 2025 · Data updated · Confidence 95/100

In Massachusetts, the median school principal earns $128,430 a year, 21% above the United States median of $105,870.

It ranks 11th of 51 states with a published figure.

Pay is relatively compressed, with the 10th percentile at $81,640 and the 90th at $166,240 (a ratio of 2.0).

Massachusetts has 10,570 of these jobs, a location quotient of 1.38: the role is 38% more concentrated here than nationally.

For context, the median across all occupations in Massachusetts is $63,590, so this role pays 2.0 times the local typical wage.

Published figures

Published and derived pay figures
MeasureMassachusettsNational
Median annual pay Observed$128,430United States: $105,870
Mean annual pay Observed$126,350United States: $116,100
10th percentile Observed$81,640United States: $76,280
25th percentile Observed$103,440United States: $86,040
75th percentile Observed$138,380United States: $134,630
90th percentile Observed$166,240United States: $167,770
Employment (jobs) Observed10,570
Jobs per 1,000 employees Observed2.906
Location quotient Observed1.38
Difference from United States median ($105,870) Derived+21%
Rank among 51 states Derived11
Ratio to Massachusetts all-occupation median ($63,590) Derived2.02×
90th / 10th percentile ratio Derived2.04

Nearby in the ranking

  1. 9. Oregon$130,050
  2. 10. Utah$128,880
  3. 11. Massachusetts$128,430
  4. 12. Minnesota$127,000
  5. 13. Hawaii$126,760

Largest cities in Massachusetts: Boston, South Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell (GeoNames). Figures are for the whole state, not individual cities.

More pay data

Source, method and data quality

  • Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (Public domain (U.S. Government work)). Reference period: May 2025. Updates: Yearly (spring release).
  • Observed figures are copied from the published table without adjustment. Derived figures (rankings, ratios and differences) are calculated by us from those observed figures. No figure on this page is modeled or estimated.
  • Relative standard error (PRSE) published per estimate.
  • Confidence score: 95/100. Based on the published sampling error and job count. We only publish region pages scoring 60 or more that have at least 6 observed figures.
  • Place hierarchy from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Data last updated: .
  • Full method: methodology.