Medical assistant in Massachusetts: licence, certification and what employers require (2026)

Massachusetts does not license medical assistants; no state licence; employers ask for a national certificate (CMA from AAMA, RMA from AMT, CCMA from NHA). This page says what a medical assistant licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Massachusetts, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

No state licenses medical assistants, so there is nothing to transfer: your national certificate is valid in Massachusetts as it is. What changes is what Massachusetts lets a medical assistant do, especially around medication and injections, which is set by the state medical board and followed by employers.

What to have ready before you move

• Your national certificate and its renewal date
• Documentation of any skills ${STATE} regulates (injections, phlebotomy)

Start the paperwork before you give notice. There is no Massachusetts licence to wait for, so the only clock is the employer's.

What people get wrong

• Letting the national certificate lapse during the move; renewal needs continuing education
• Assuming scope of practice is the same; it is set per state

Who hires medical assistants in Massachusetts

Medical assistants in Massachusetts are hired by physician practices, urgent care, hospital outpatient departments and specialty clinics. The metros with the most of that work are Boston, Worcester, Springfield and Cambridge. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Massachusetts openings page.

For the money side: the median medical assistant in Massachusetts earned $48,540 a year ($23 an hour) in May 2024 across 16,210 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Massachusetts has a flat 5% state income tax. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Massachusetts, on one page

The Massachusetts page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Massachusetts employers hiring from out of state.