Respiratory Therapist Salary in Massachusetts 2026,
$102,170 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Massachusetts figure is $102,170 a year, or $49.12 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 24.2% above the national median of $82,280, the widest premium of any occupation in this tranche. The band runs $80,330 at the 10th percentile to $123,930 at the 90th, and the 10th percentile alone sits close to the national median for the profession.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton at $104,580, then Worcester $98,120 and Springfield $86,030. The eighteen-thousand-dollar gap between Boston and Springfield is among the largest intrastate spreads in this unit, and it tracks the concentration of tertiary and academic critical care in eastern Massachusetts — though Springfield's cost base is also substantially lower.

Scarcity meeting intensity. The state employs respiratory therapists at 0.68 times the national rate — barely two-thirds — while operating one of the densest concentrations of tertiary and academic hospitals in the country, with the critical care volume that implies. Fewer therapists than the country per capita, and more intensive care beds needing them, produces exactly the premium the data shows. Massachusetts's high cost of living reinforces it, since employers must pay enough to make living here viable.

The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Respiratory Care, a dedicated board for the profession rather than a committee under a medical board. Licensure requires graduation from a CoARC-accredited programme and a National Board for Respiratory Care credential, with the Registered Respiratory Therapist credential the standard employers expect. Having its own board gives the profession direct institutional standing on scope questions, which is not the case in states where respiratory care sits under physician oversight.

On pay, exceptionally — the 24.2% premium is the largest in this tranche, and even entry-level therapists earn close to the national median. On demand, the state is short-staffed at 0.68 times national concentration against 12.1% projected national growth, so the market is tight. The counterweight is cost of living, particularly in eastern Massachusetts, where housing costs are among the highest in the country. Springfield's $86,030 against Boston's $104,580 is a genuine trade-off rather than simply a worse deal.

Because scarcity in a licensed profession benefits the people who hold the licence. Massachusetts's 0.68 location quotient means employers are competing for a thin supply, and the 24.2% premium is what that competition produces. The cost to the therapist is workload rather than pay — fewer therapists covering the same intensive care beds means heavier assignments and more pressure to pick up additional shifts. Anyone evaluating a Massachusetts position should ask about therapist-to-ventilator ratios as carefully as about the wage.

Cost of living and shift differentials. The premium is real but eastern Massachusetts housing costs are among the highest in the country, and comparing this figure to a national median without adjusting for that overstates the gain considerably. Separately, respiratory therapy is a continuous hospital service, so nights, weekends and holidays are unavoidable and the associated premiums are folded invisibly into the annual figure — the $49.12 hourly median is the better comparator for a specific roster.

Acuity first: intensive care, neonatal and transport therapy require additional credentials and sit well above general floor work, and Massachusetts's academic centres run all of them at volume. Then shift, since continuous coverage makes differentials available to anyone willing to take them. Then location within the state, with the eastern Massachusetts academic corridor paying well above the west. Then subspecialty diagnostics and extracorporeal support roles, which are among the most specialised in the profession. And then clinical education and shift leadership at the top of the band.