Architectural and Civil Drafters in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,186
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$12,815
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,439
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
$73,000
Kept after tax
$60,186
Worth in national money
$55,439
State rank
11
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $73,000, which ranks 11 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 10.36% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 245 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $73,000, tax leaves $60,186 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $55,439 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $74,420, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington ranks 11 of 50 states publishing a median for architectural and civil drafters, at $73,000 — about 10.36% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 245 of 493 in Washington places architectural and civil drafters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $60,186 remains from the Washington median of $73,000 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $55,439 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $74,420 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Architectural and Civil Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $55,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,180 |
| This salary | $73,000 |
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 | $60,186 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,186 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,496 |
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 | $73,000 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,666 |
| 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 architectural and civil drafters in Washington earn under $73,000 and half over. The published range runs $55,990 at the tenth percentile to $102,180 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $60,186 take-home in Washington comes from $73,000. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 245 of 493.
- Two cautions on $55,439, the adjusted value of that $73,000 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 245 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for architectural and civil drafters in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $55,990 to $102,180; 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.
- Retained pay of $60,186, from $73,000, assumes a single Washington filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 245 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 50 for it.
- This $55,439 adjusted figure, worked from $73,000, 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 245 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 245 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $55,990 at the bottom tenth to $102,180 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $55,439 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $60,186 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($55,990 to $102,180) 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 $55,439 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 $60,186 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.