Data Scientist Salary in Massachusetts (2026)
The average Data Scientist in Massachusetts earns around $145,000/year. After taxes, your estimated take-home is $103,344/year ($8,612/month).
Take-Home Pay Breakdown
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
Annual Take-Home Pay | $103,344 |
Monthly Take-Home Pay | $8,612 |
Biweekly Take-Home Pay | $3,975 |
Hourly Take-Home Pay based on 2,080 hrs/year | $50/hr |
Federal Tax | $23,534 |
State Tax | $7,030 |
FICA Taxes | $11,093 |
Effective Tax Rate total taxes ÷ gross salary | 28.73% |
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Read the Massachusetts RSU tax guide →Data Scientist Salary Ranges in Massachusetts
Not all Data Scientists earn the same — not even close
Massachusetts has the densest concentration of biomedical + financial + tech data science talent in the country. Kendall Square Cambridge (Moderna mRNA platform, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, Takeda US HQ, Pfizer Cambridge, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research) anchors biomedical ML at scale. Fidelity Investments HQ Boston (~$5T+ AUM), State Street Corp (~$40T+ AUC custody bank), and Wellington Management drive quantitative finance data science. MIT + Harvard tech transfer plus the post-2010 Boston-area AI/ML startup ecosystem (Hyperscience, DataRobot, Indigo Ag) plus Akamai Technologies HQ Cambridge round out the picture.
Principal ML Engineer / Senior Scientist
$255,000–$425,000+ TC
Moderna mRNA platform ML · Vertex computational biology · DeepMind Boston · OpenAI Boston satellite · MIT-CSAIL-adjacent
Senior Data Scientist (Biotech / Pharma)
$175,000–$275,000
Kendall Square biotech · Moderna · Vertex · Biogen · Takeda · drug-discovery ML · genomics specialty
Senior Data Scientist (Quant Finance)
$185,000–$315,000
Wellington Management · State Street Global Advisors · Fidelity quant research · Putnam Investments
Senior Data Scientist (Tech / SaaS)
$155,000–$245,000
Akamai Technologies · HubSpot Cambridge · Wayfair · TripAdvisor · DataRobot
Data Scientist (Mid-Level, 3-6 yrs)
$120,000–$175,000
Most common mid-career band · MIT + Harvard + Northeastern + BU pipeline · cross-industry
ML Engineer / MLOps
$135,000–$235,000
Production ML deployment · Akamai edge ML · Wayfair recommendations · biotech clinical-data pipelines
Senior ML Engineer (Defense / Cleared)
$165,000–$275,000
Raytheon Waltham defense + missile + radar ML · MIT Lincoln Laboratory · TS/SCI cleared work premium
Biostatistician (Harvard / MIT)
$135,000–$215,000
Harvard School of Public Health · Broad Institute · Dana-Farber + MGH Cancer Center · FDA trial premium
Junior Data Scientist / Analyst
$90,000–$135,000
MIT + Harvard + Northeastern + BU + WPI pipeline · biotech + finance + tech entry placements
Senior Quant Researcher (Investment)
$215,000–$385,000
Wellington systematic strategies · Fidelity Asset Management Research · Putnam quant · Bridgewater satellite
Worth knowing: Kendall Square Cambridge is the densest single concentration of biotech R&D in the world — over 300 biotech companies operate within a one-square-mile radius. Moderna HQ Cambridge ($25B+ market cap post-COVID, ~5K employees including substantial mRNA platform ML organization), Vertex Pharmaceuticals HQ Boston Seaport (cystic fibrosis franchise + emerging therapies, ~5K employees), Biogen HQ Cambridge (neuroscience pharma, ~7K employees), Takeda Pharmaceutical US HQ Cambridge, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Pfizer Cambridge research, and Sanofi Cambridge research all maintain substantial computational biology + drug-discovery ML organizations. Senior data scientists at Kendall Square biotech routinely clear $175-275K TC plus biotech equity participation. State Street Corp ($40T+ assets under custody, the largest US custody bank by AUC, ~40K employees globally) operates substantial quantitative research + risk + middle-office data science. Fidelity Investments HQ Boston (~$5T+ AUM, ~30K employees globally) is the country's third-largest asset manager by AUM behind BlackRock and Vanguard. Wellington Management (employee-owned, ~$1.2T AUM) is the country's largest employee-owned asset manager. The MA combined effective rate at $185K senior DS comp is 5% flat — but at $1.117M+ TC (achievable at senior biotech equity + Wellington partner tier) the Fair Share Amendment 4% surtax kicks in for a 9% combined top — among the higher US state burdens for HNW biotech founders + senior finance.
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More on Massachusetts
Salaries by profession, top-paying roles by industry, and an economic breakdown for Massachusetts in 2026.
Tax brackets, standard deductions, and take-home estimates for Massachusetts in 2026.
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