Architects, Except Landscape and Naval in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,314
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$20,876
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,058
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
$100,190
Kept after tax
$79,314
Worth in national money
$73,058
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $100,190, ranking 18 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Washington. It ranks 122 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $100,190, tax leaves $79,314 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $73,058 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $100,740, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington occupies the middle band for architects, except landscape and naval: a median of $100,190, ranking 18 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Washington, architects, except landscape and naval ranks 122 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After tax, $79,314 remains from the Washington median of $100,190 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $73,058 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $100,740 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $70,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,380 |
| This salary | $100,190 |
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 | $79,314 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,314 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,561 |
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 | $100,190 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,825 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 Washington earn under $100,190 and half over. The published range runs $70,020 at the tenth percentile to $130,380 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $79,314, from $100,190, 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 122 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $73,058, the adjusted value of that $100,190 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 122 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for architects, except landscape and naval in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $70,020 to $130,380; 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 Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $79,314 from $100,190. 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 122 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $73,058 — the adjusted value of that $100,190 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 122 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $70,020 at the tenth percentile, $130,380 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Washington costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $73,058 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $79,314 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($70,020 to $130,380) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Washington rather than a national figure.
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 $73,058 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 $79,314 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.
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.