Architects, Except Landscape and Naval in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,910
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$27,130
26.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,606
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$102,040
Kept after tax
$74,910
Worth in national money
$67,606
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. District of Columbia pays this job a middle wage of $102,040, ranking 11 of 51 states and sitting about 2.78% above the national middle.
- Against other work in District of Columbia, this sits in the middle: 112 of 390 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- District of Columbia is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $102,040 the take-home is $74,910; in national-average money that behaves like $67,606. The average comes to $113,890, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- District of Columbia's median for architects, except landscape and naval is $102,040, about 2.78% above the national figure and 11 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Architects, except landscape and naval ranks 112 of 390 occupations in District of Columbia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Take-home for architects, except landscape and naval in District of Columbia, on $102,040, is $74,910; deflated by the state's price level, $67,606. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $113,890 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Architects, Except Landscape and Naval
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $75,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $163,440 |
| This salary | $102,040 |
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 District of Columbia | $74,910 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,615 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,353 |
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 | $93,931 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,207 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of architects, except landscape and naval in District of Columbia earn under $102,040 and half over. The published range runs $75,900 at the tenth percentile to $163,440 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $74,910, from $102,040, 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 112 of 390 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $67,606 uses one figure for the whole of District of Columbia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 390 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 112.
- Figures are distribution medians for architects, except landscape and naval in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $75,900 to $163,440; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for District of Columbia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $74,910 from $102,040. 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 112 of 390 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $67,606, worked from $102,040, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular District of Columbia address, on work sitting at 112 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $113,890, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $75,900 and the top tenth $163,440 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $67,606 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and District of Columbia's own levy, $74,910 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 District of Columbia is $113,890. 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 ($75,900) and the ninetieth ($163,440) 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?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $67,606 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $74,910 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.