Architectural and Engineering Managers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$141,233
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$48,447
25.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$130,095
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
$189,680
Kept after tax
$141,233
Worth in national money
$130,095
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $189,680, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 10.75% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Washington. It ranks 7 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $189,680 the take-home is $141,233. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $130,095 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $200,030, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for architectural and engineering managers, at $189,680 — about 10.75% 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.
- Within Washington, architectural and engineering managers ranks 7 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $141,233 for architectural and engineering managers, from $189,680. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $130,095. ⚠️ 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 $200,030 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Architectural and Engineering Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $148,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $189,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $263,550 |
| This salary | $189,680 |
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 | $141,233 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $141,233 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,245 |
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 | $189,680 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,204 |
| 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 engineering managers in Washington earn under $189,680 and half over. The published range runs $148,930 at the tenth percentile to $263,550 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $141,233, from $189,680, 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 7 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $130,095 uses one figure for the whole of Washington. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 7.
- Figures are distribution medians for architectural and engineering managers in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $148,930 to $263,550; 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 $141,233 from $189,680. 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 7 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $130,095, worked from $189,680, 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 Washington address, on work sitting at 7 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 $200,030, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $148,930 at the bottom tenth to $263,550 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $130,095 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $141,233 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.
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 Washington is $200,030. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($148,930 to $263,550) 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 $130,095 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 $141,233 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.