Chief Executives in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$240,118
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$99,692
29.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$221,180
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
$339,810
Kept after tax
$240,118
Worth in national money
$221,180
State rank
2
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for chief executives is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $339,810, putting the state 2 of 46 — about 58.8% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Washington this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, chief executives ranks 1 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $339,810, tax leaves $240,118 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $221,180 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $360,290, since top earners drag the number up.
- For chief executives, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $339,810, ranking 2 of 46 and running about 58.8% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Washington publishes a median for, chief executives sits 1 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After tax, $240,118 remains from the Washington median of $339,810 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $221,180 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $360,290 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chief Executives
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $160,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $339,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $607,100 |
| This salary | $339,810 |
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 | $240,118 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $240,118 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$25,918 |
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 | $339,810 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$40,201 |
| 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 chief executives in Washington earn under $339,810 and half over. The published range runs $160,110 at the tenth percentile to $607,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $240,118, from $339,810, 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 1 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 $221,180, the adjusted value of that $339,810 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 1 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for chief executives in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $160,110 to $607,100; 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 $240,118 from $339,810. 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 1 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $221,180 — the adjusted value of that $339,810 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 1 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 $360,290, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $160,110 and the top tenth $607,100 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $221,180 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $240,118 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $360,290. 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 ($160,110) and the ninetieth ($607,100) 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 $221,180 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 $240,118 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.