Boston Herald19%
2025 Massachusetts state employee payroll master list: ‘Your Tax Dollars at Work’ 6%
By Joe Dwinell0% Isabelle Friedman0%
1/7/2026, 8:51:51 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 7 faulty reasoning types, including Primacy Effect, Availability Heuristic, and Negativity Bias, with Sunk Cost Effect as the most egregious example at 11.9% saturation with 20 hits. Analysis detected 93 faulty-reasoning hits from 168 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 22.4% and a BS Rank of 6% (18,908 of 20,061 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 94.30% of the article peer group.
The Herald is back for the 19th year of the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” payroll and database rolling report.
Check back here for all our data-driven reporting.
And, here’s what we reported first (below).
Both UMass and State Police databases are posted separately.
To search this database, click the magnifying glass icon (at right) and enter names and more.
Use the scroll bar at the bottom to move the data over to the right to sort by highest to lowest.
Send any tips or questions to joed@bostonherald.com.
* Top 1,000 Massachusetts public payroll earners
* Boston’s city payroll for 2025
* $6.6B pension payroll for 2025
* Top Massachusetts state employee earners in 2025
* UMass complete 2025 payroll
* Massachusetts State Police 2025 payroll
* Gov.
Maura Healey’s 2025 office payroll
* Massachusetts governor races to reclaim buyout from fired aide in cocaine case
* Last year's “Your Tax Dollars at Work” main page
Confirmation Bias
0%Confirmation Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
3%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Anchoring Bias
0%Anchoring Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Availability Heuristic
7.7%Availability Heuristic
OverallThis article
7.7%AuthorJoe Dwinell
2.6%Publicationbostonherald
3.8%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Representativeness Heuristic
0%Representativeness Heuristic
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
2.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Hindsight Bias
0%Hindsight Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.3%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Overconfidence Bias
0%Overconfidence Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Framing Effect
7.1%Framing Effect
OverallThis article
7.1%AuthorJoe Dwinell
4.8%Publicationbostonherald
8.5%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Loss Aversion
0%Loss Aversion
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Status Quo Bias
0%Status Quo Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
2%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Sunk Cost Effect
11.9%Sunk Cost Effect
OverallThis article
11.9%AuthorJoe Dwinell
4%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Optimism Bias
0%Optimism Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
2.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Pessimism Bias
0%Pessimism Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.2%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Negativity Bias
7.7%Negativity Bias
OverallThis article
7.7%AuthorJoe Dwinell
5.2%Publicationbostonherald
4.5%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Self-Serving Bias
0%Self-Serving Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
2.4%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Fundamental Attribution Error
0%Fundamental Attribution Error
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.7%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Actor-Observer Bias
0%Actor-Observer Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.9%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
In-Group Bias
0%In-Group Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.5%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Out-Group Homogeneity Bias
0%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Halo Effect
0%Halo Effect
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Horn Effect
0%Horn Effect
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Dunning-Kruger Effect
0%Dunning-Kruger Effect
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Recency Bias
0%Recency Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.8%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Primacy Effect
11.9%Primacy Effect
OverallThis article
11.9%AuthorJoe Dwinell
4%Publicationbostonherald
0.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Blind-Spot Bias
0%Blind-Spot Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Ad Hominem
0%Ad Hominem
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
2%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Straw Man
0%Straw Man
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.2%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Appeal to Authority
0%Appeal to Authority
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
4.1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
False Dilemma
0%False Dilemma
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.9%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Slippery Slope
0%Slippery Slope
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.2%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Circular Reasoning
0%Circular Reasoning
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.5%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Hasty Generalization
0%Hasty Generalization
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
2.8%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Red Herring
0%Red Herring
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Bandwagon
0%Bandwagon
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.8%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Appeal to Emotion
0%Appeal to Emotion
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
8.5%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Begging the Question
0%Begging the Question
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.5%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Post Hoc (False Cause)
0%Post Hoc (False Cause)
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.8%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Tu Quoque
0%Tu Quoque
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Burden of Proof
0%Burden of Proof
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.4%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Appeal to Nature
0%Appeal to Nature
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.7%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Composition/Division
0%Composition/Division
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.9%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Anecdotal
0%Anecdotal
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
No True Scotsman
0%No True Scotsman
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Ambiguity (Equivocation)
0%Ambiguity (Equivocation)
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.4%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Gambler’s Fallacy
0%Gambler’s Fallacy
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Middle Ground
0%Middle Ground
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Personal Incredulity
0%Personal Incredulity
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Special Pleading
0%Special Pleading
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Genetic Fallacy
0%Genetic Fallacy
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.2%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Unattributed Quote
0%Unattributed Quote
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Quote-first Misdirection
0%Quote-first Misdirection
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Biased Writer Voice
0%Biased Writer Voice
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
8.9%Publicationbostonherald
1.9%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Indoctrination
4.8%Indoctrination
OverallThis article
4.8%AuthorJoe Dwinell
1.6%Publicationbostonherald
0.4%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Politically Left Leaning Bias
0%Politically Left Leaning Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
1.3%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Politically Right Leaning Bias
0%Politically Right Leaning Bias
OverallThis article
0%AuthorJoe Dwinell
0%Publicationbostonherald
0.6%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
Attempt to Sell a Product or Service
4.2%Attempt to Sell a Product or Service
OverallThis article
4.2%AuthorJoe Dwinell
3%Publicationbostonherald
0.2%Bar shows this article. Yellow and cyan markers show the selected author and publication averages.
168 words analyzed.
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.