Advertising Sales Agents in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,109
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$21,211
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,791
Washington costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Washington — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$101,320
Kept after tax
$80,109
Worth in national money
$73,791
State rank
1
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays advertising sales agents a middle wage of $101,320, ranking 1 of 48 states and sitting about 56.31% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Washington reports, advertising sales agents comes in at 113 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $101,320 the take-home is $80,109. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $73,791 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $111,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington's median for advertising sales agents is $101,320, about 56.31% above the national figure and 1 of 48 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Advertising sales agents ranks 113 of 493 occupations by median in Washington, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $80,109 for advertising sales agents, from $101,320. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $73,791. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $111,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Advertising Sales Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $183,700 |
| This salary | $101,320 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Washington | $80,109 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,109 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,647 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $101,320 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,944 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Washington earn less than $101,320. The published range is $52,510 up to $183,700, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $80,109, from $101,320, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 113 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $73,791, the adjusted value of that $101,320 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Washington. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 113 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for advertising sales agents in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $52,510 to $183,700. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $80,109 from $101,320. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 113 of 493 locally.
- This $73,791 adjusted figure, worked from $101,320, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 113 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 113 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $111,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $52,510 at the bottom tenth to $183,700 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Washington run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $73,791 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $80,109 of this wage reaches your account, because Washington takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Washington is $111,590. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($52,510) and the ninetieth ($183,700) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Washington's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $73,791 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Washington levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $80,109 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.