What Self-Enrichment Teachers earn in Plymouth County, MA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area, the median pay for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA is $50,250 a year, or $24.16 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $40,212 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Plymouth County, MA.
The mean wage is $65,610, which is 30.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 9,110 people working in this occupation across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Plymouth County, MA has roughly 535,075 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Self-Enrichment Teachers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $36,980 a year ($17.78 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $114,780 or more ($55.18 an hour). That is a gap of $77,800 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $42,030 at the 25th percentile and $80,860 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 3.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA is $24.16. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $50,250, and the same salary is $4,188 a month before taxes or about $1,933 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $19.33 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Self-Enrichment Teachers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Self-Enrichment Teachers this way: "Teach or instruct individuals or groups for the primary purpose of self-enrichment or recreation, rather than for an occupational objective, educational attainment, competition, or fitness."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests"; "Monitor students' performance to make suggestions for improvement and to ensure that they satisfy course standards, training requirements, and objectives"; "Observe students to determine qualifications, limitations, abilities, interests, and other individual characteristics"; "Instruct students individually and in groups, using various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations".
Job outlook for Self-Enrichment Teachers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 419,100 jobs in 2025 to 433,700 in 2035, a change of +3.5%, in line with the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 50,000 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 11.9% of current employment each year. About 14.9% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Work experience in a related occupation: less than 5 years. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $46,800 for this occupation; the Plymouth County, MA median of $50,250 is 7.4% above it.
How pay in Plymouth County, MA compares
Compared with the Massachusetts average
Plymouth County, MA pays above the state benchmark. The Massachusetts employment-weighted average for Self-Enrichment Teachers is $48,941; the local median of $50,250 beats it by $1,309, or 2.7%. Within Massachusetts, Plymouth County, MA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Self-Enrichment Teachers is $47,352 across the contiguous United States. At $50,250, Plymouth County, MA pays $2,898 more, which is 6.1% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Plymouth County, MA
Among the 581 occupations with published wages in Plymouth County, MA, Self-Enrichment Teachers ranks number 449 by median pay, ahead of about 23% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Natural Sciences Managers at $291,000 a year, which is $240,750 more than the median for Self-Enrichment Teachers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $50,250 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $10,038 a year, which leaves $40,212, or $3,351 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $20 goes to taxes and $80 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 20.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $34,500. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $3,902, an effective 7.8% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,116 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $729. FICA totals $3,844, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Massachusetts
Massachusetts income tax on this salary is $2,293 a year, or 4.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 59% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $191 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Plymouth County, MA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Plymouth County, MA show an average adjusted gross income of $114,703 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 15.9% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.8%, compared with the 7.8% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Plymouth County, MA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Plymouth County, MA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $40,212 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Plymouth County, MA is $2,185 a month, or $26,220 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,713 a month. For Self-Enrichment Teachers, a one-bedroom absorbs 65.2% of take-home pay and 52.2% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 6.8% of gross pay for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Massachusetts residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,101 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $867, for $3,968 in total. Gasoline in Massachusetts averages $3.33 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,542.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $35,165 a year, 87% of take-home pay. That leaves $5,047 a year, or $421 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 10.0% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Plymouth County, MA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Plymouth County, MA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Plymouth County, MA, set beside the Massachusetts and national medians.
Property taxes in Plymouth County, MA
Homeowners in Plymouth County, MA pay a median of $6,502 a year in real estate taxes, 9% above the Massachusetts median of $5,992 and 108% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $556,000, the median tax bill is 1.17% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Self-Enrichment Teachers median of $50,250, a tax bill of that size would equal 12.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Plymouth County, MA
Renters in Plymouth County, MA pay a median gross rent of $1,747 a month in the Census survey, in line with the Massachusetts median of $1,762. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,185 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $556,000, 1% below the Massachusetts median of $562,100. Median household income is $114,201, 10% above the Massachusetts median of $103,960, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.0% of that income.
Commuting in Plymouth County, MA
Workers in Plymouth County, MA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 32.5 minutes each way, 12% above the Massachusetts average of 29.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 16.2% of workers in Plymouth County, MA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Self-Enrichment Teachers afford to live in Plymouth County, MA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $50,250 that ceiling is $1,256 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,185 is $929 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $42.02 an hour; the median for Self-Enrichment Teachers is $24.16, which is 43% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $19.33 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 26.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,713 a month means $1,357 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,942 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $14,989.
How fast you can save
At $421 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 24 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 48 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Self-Enrichment Teachers pay in Plymouth County, MA
What is the hourly wage for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA?
The median is $24.16 per hour, based on $50,250 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.78 at the 10th percentile to $55.18 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $50,250 becomes $40,212 a year. That is $3,351 a month, $1,547 every two weeks or $773 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA?
Total taxes are $10,038 a year, an effective rate of 20.0%: $3,902 federal income tax, $3,844 FICA and $2,293 Massachusetts income tax.
Is pay for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA above the Massachusetts average?
Yes. The local median of $50,250 is +2.7% versus the Massachusetts average of $48,941, a difference of $1,309 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Self-Enrichment Teachers salary in Plymouth County, MA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,185 a month against take-home pay of $3,351, which is 65.2% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,256 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Self-Enrichment Teachers in Plymouth County, MA?
About $421 a month ($5,047 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $35,165 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Plymouth County, MA at the 30% guideline?
$42.02 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,220 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Self-Enrichment Teachers is $24.16.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Massachusetts rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.