Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$69,310
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$16,660
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,844
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
$85,970
Kept after tax
$69,310
Worth in national money
$63,844
State rank
20
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Washington is 20 of 48 states for this job, with a middle wage of $85,970. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Washington, this sits in the middle: 163 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $85,970 the take-home is $69,310. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $63,844 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $93,990, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 20 of 48 for chemistry teachers, postsecondary at $85,970. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Chemistry teachers, postsecondary ranks 163 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $69,310 for chemistry teachers, postsecondary, from $85,970. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $63,844. ⚠️ 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 $93,990 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,710 |
| This salary | $85,970 |
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 | $69,310 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,481 |
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 | $85,970 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,334 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $85,970 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,540 and the ninetieth is $127,710 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $69,310 take-home in Washington comes from $85,970. 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 163 of 493.
- Two cautions on $63,844, the adjusted value of that $85,970 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 163 of 493 locally.
- The Washington median of $85,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,540 to $127,710. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $69,310, from $85,970, 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 163 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 48 for it.
- This $63,844 adjusted figure, worked from $85,970, 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 163 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 163 of 493 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 $93,990, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $58,540, the highest tenth $127,710, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $63,844 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $69,310 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.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $93,990. 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 ($58,540) and the ninetieth ($127,710) 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?
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 $63,844 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 $69,310 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.