City of Boston / Boston Public Library / Librarian II
Job-title file
Manage collections and information services and help patrons with research and access.
2 employees hold this title in Boston Public Library. Median total compensation for the role is $79,216, above the department median of $71,643.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area, the median wage for Librarians and Media Collections Specialists — about 3,660 people — is $79,450. Boston Public Library pays a median base salary of $79,290 for this role, in line with that figure — about the 50th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Librarians and Media Collections Specialists across every employer in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Boston Public Library’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Librarians and Media Collections Specialists — about 133,790 people — is $68,270. Boston Public Library’s median base salary is 16% above that national figure, about the 67th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Boston Public Library is $81,127, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 32 jurisdictions. In City of Boston, the median of $112,505 ranks #6 of 32. See Librarian across all of City of Boston →
Median total compensation for comparable Librarian roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Same department
Record list
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Librarian II/Boston Public Library
Source-specific fields
Kate Gray is a Librarian II at Boston Public Library. 2024 total compensation came to $90,018.
Librarian II/Boston Public Library
Source-specific fields
Isabella De Gregorio is a Librarian II at Boston Public Library. 2024 total compensation came to $68,414.