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Jobs in Boston, MA: pay, hiring and remote work
In Boston, 62.8% of the 3,718 job postings we track list a pay range, and the median posted pay is $160,000 a year. 11.2% are remote, 12.1% are entry level, and 29.8% have been open for more than 60 days (data as of October 2026).
What stands out
- A $159,000 posted salary in the Boston area buys about what $146,500 buys in the average US metro area, because prices here run 8% above the national average.
- Housing costs run 48% above the US average here (BEA regional price parities).
- After adjusting for local prices, the typical worker's official median wage ($66,500) is worth $61,500 in average-US dollars, 6th of 99 metro areas.
- 59.8% of open job postings list a pay range, 8th of 99 metro areas.
- 7.8% of postings are remote, 15th highest of 99 metro areas.
MA requires employers to include a pay range in job postings (since 2025).
Boston is part of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, with suburbs and nearby towns broken out.
The metro area's unemployment rate was 4.1% in 2026-08 (4.4% a year earlier) (BLS, not seasonally adjusted). Across Massachusetts, employers had 129,000 job openings in 2025-12, an openings rate of 3.4% (BLS JOLTS). Indeed's own measure of job postings in the metro area is 16% below its February 2020 level and 4.2% higher than a year ago (Indeed Hiring Lab, 2026-10-02).
Posted pay vs official wages
| Kind of job | Median posted pay | Closest official occupation | Official median wage (BLS, May 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software developers | $190,000 205 postings | software developers | $166,000 |
| People and recruiting | $136,500 38 postings | human resources specialists | $90,500 |
Official wages are the Bureau of Labor Statistics median annual wage for all workers in that occupation in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area. Posted pay is the middle of the ranges in open postings, so the two measure different things: pay for open jobs versus pay for everyone already employed.
Posted pay by kind of job in Boston
| Kind of job | Median posted pay | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|
| Data scientists | $197,500 | 10 |
| Software developers | $190,000 | 205 |
| Software engineering | $185,500 | 76 |
| Product and design | $185,000 | 74 |
| Legal and compliance | $177,000 | 38 |
| Security and IT | $175,500 | 64 |
| Nursing and clinical care | $167,500 | 20 |
| Data and analytics | $165,000 | 23 |
| Finance and accounting | $155,500 | 43 |
| Engineering (other) | $154,500 | 36 |
| Marketing | $147,500 | 97 |
| Sales | $145,000 | 209 |
| People and recruiting | $136,500 | 38 |
| Operations and logistics | $131,500 | 61 |
| Customer support and success | $130,000 | 37 |
Kinds of job are grouped by title wording. Pay is the midpoint of the range in the posting, annualized for hourly postings.
Who is hiring, by industry
| Industry | Postings |
|---|---|
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 1337 |
| Software & Technology | 1056 |
| Consulting & Professional Services | 220 |
| Retail & E-commerce | 199 |
| Insurance | 187 |
| Manufacturing & Industrial | 164 |
| Financial Services | 143 |
| Real Estate & Construction | 89 |
| Education | 87 |
| Other | 81 |
| Media & Entertainment | 72 |
| Logistics & Transportation | 54 |
| Energy & Utilities | 16 |
Employers with the most openings
- Mass General Brigham: 690 postings
- Whoop: 167 postings
- State Street: 126 postings
- Andurilindustries: 70 postings
- Klaviyo: 70 postings
What applications ask in Boston
Among 668 application forms we read: 23.2% ask applicants for a salary expectation, 78.9% ask about visa sponsorship, 62.1% include the equal-opportunity section, and 15.4% carry an AI-use notice. Question wording only; no applicant answers are ever collected.
What your paycheck buys here
Prices in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area run 8% above the national average, and housing runs 48% above it. The official median wage for all jobs is $66,500, which is worth $61,500 in average-US dollars. The median posted pay of $159,000 is worth $146,500.
How it compares with similar-sized metro areas
| Metro area | Pay listed | Posted pay | Official wage | Prices | Paycheck power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | 59.8% | $159,000 | $66,500 | 108.3 | $61,500 |
| Miami | 21.2% | $115,000 | $48,500 | 114.2 | $42,500 |
| Atlanta | 25.9% | $134,500 | $51,000 | 100.1 | $51,000 |
| Philadelphia | 28.4% | $111,500 | $54,500 | 102.6 | $53,000 |
| Phoenix | 20.5% | $117,500 | $51,500 | 103.3 | $49,500 |
| San Francisco | 73.7% | $205,000 | $74,500 | 115.6 | $64,000 |
| Washington | 61.2% | $156,500 | $71,000 | 108.9 | $65,500 |
Compare any metro areas side by side
Download this data
Free to use with credit: Second Summit, October 2026. Data (CSV) · Data (JSON) · paycheck power chart (SVG) · posted vs official chart (SVG) · prices chart (SVG) · industries chart (SVG) · biggest jobs chart (SVG)
Related pages
Where its metro area ranks
Postings that list several cities count in each one. This covers employers whose career pages we read, not every job in Boston. Methodology · All cities (CSV)
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