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Jobs in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area: pay, hiring and remote work
The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area has 5,962 open job postings from 677 employers in our data. 59.8% list a pay range, the median posted pay is $159,000 a year, 7.8% are remote and 26.5% have been open 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.
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).
City by city inside the metro area
| Place | Postings | Employers | Pay listed | Median posted pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston, MA | 3718 | 543 | 62.8% | $160,000 |
| Cambridge, MA | 423 | 65 | 47% | $183,500 |
| Somerville, MA | 382 | 25 | 85.4% | $141,000 |
| Waltham, MA | 299 | 36 | 78.1% | $177,000 |
| Quincy, MA | 245 | 19 | 53.9% | $150,000 |
| Newton, MA | 187 | 18 | 41.9% | – |
| Framingham, MA | 133 | 18 | 17.8% | $140,000 |
| Salem, MA | 130 | 5 | n/a | – |
| Dover, NH | 112 | 6 | n/a | – |
| Woburn, MA | 60 | 14 | 51.1% | $135,000 |
| Peabody, MA | 50 | 12 | 25.7% | – |
| Portsmouth, NH | 49 | 12 | n/a | – |
| Chelsea, MA | 23 | 5 | n/a | – |
| Medford, MA | 21 | 9 | n/a | – |
| Brockton, MA | 21 | 12 | n/a | – |
| Newburyport, MA | 19 | 6 | n/a | – |
| Lynn, MA | 18 | 10 | n/a | – |
| Beverly, MA | 15 | 3 | n/a | – |
| Lowell, MA | 15 | 7 | 53.3% | – |
Places with at least 15 postings from 3 employers. Shading shows where median posted pay is higher. Pay figures need 8 postings with pay.
City pages: Boston.
Posted pay vs official wages
| Kind of job | Median posted pay | Closest official occupation | Official median wage (BLS, May 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software developers | $190,000 276 postings | software developers | $166,000 |
| People and recruiting | $136,500 50 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
| Kind of job | Median posted pay | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|
| Software developers | $190,000 | 276 |
| Legal and compliance | $187,000 | 47 |
| Product and design | $185,000 | 92 |
| Software engineering | $184,000 | 96 |
| Data scientists | $183,500 | 14 |
| Security and IT | $166,000 | 87 |
| Data and analytics | $165,000 | 31 |
| Finance and accounting | $156,000 | 62 |
| Engineering (other) | $152,500 | 70 |
| Marketing | $145,000 | 126 |
| Sales | $142,500 | 265 |
| Nursing and clinical care | $141,000 | 38 |
| People and recruiting | $136,500 | 50 |
| Operations and logistics | $130,500 | 114 |
| Customer support and success | $126,000 | 43 |
| Accountants | $102,500 | 10 |
Who is hiring, by industry
| Industry | Postings |
|---|---|
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 2432 |
| Software & Technology | 1230 |
| Manufacturing & Industrial | 534 |
| Insurance | 310 |
| Retail & E-commerce | 298 |
| Consulting & Professional Services | 250 |
| Education | 188 |
| Financial Services | 173 |
| Real Estate & Construction | 121 |
| Other | 118 |
| Energy & Utilities | 111 |
| Media & Entertainment | 89 |
| Logistics & Transportation | 82 |
| Government & Nonprofit | 24 |
Employers with the most openings
- Mass General Brigham: 1278 postings
- State Street: 234 postings
- Andurilindustries: 198 postings
- Whoop: 167 postings
- Formlabs: 136 postings
Federal government hiring
331 federal job announcements open to the public list Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, with a median posted salary range midpoint of $93,500. Agencies hiring most: Department of the Air Force Headquarters (117), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (28), Federal Aviation Administration (17), U.S. Coast Guard (16), Veterans Health Administration (13). Source: USAJOBS, 2026-10-10.
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
- State pages: Massachusetts, New Hampshire
- Compare Boston with other metro areas
- Paycheck calculator: what a salary in Boston is worth elsewhere
Where it ranks
A posting that lists several places counts once in the metro. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's 2023 definitions. This covers employers whose career pages we read, not every job in the area. Methodology · All metro areas (CSV)