Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,633
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$14,267
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,614
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
$77,900
Kept after tax
$63,633
Worth in national money
$58,614
State rank
2
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 $77,900, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 26.11% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Washington, this sits in the middle: 215 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $77,900, tax leaves $63,633 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $58,614 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $78,790, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists, at $77,900 — about 26.11% 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.
- Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists ranks 215 of 493 occupations in Washington 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.
- After tax, $63,633 remains from the Washington median of $77,900 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $58,614 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $78,790 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,800 |
| This salary | $77,900 |
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 | $63,633 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,633 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,868 |
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 | $77,900 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,487 |
| 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 $77,900. The published range is $54,720 up to $102,800, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $63,633, from $77,900, 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 215 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $58,614, the adjusted value of that $77,900 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 215 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $54,720 to $102,800. 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 $63,633 from $77,900. 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 215 of 493 locally.
- This $58,614 adjusted figure, worked from $77,900, 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 215 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 215 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $54,720 at the bottom tenth to $102,800 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $58,614 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $63,633 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($54,720 to $102,800) 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 $58,614 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 $63,633 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.