Civil Engineers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$86,215
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$23,785
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$79,415
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
$110,000
Kept after tax
$86,215
Worth in national money
$79,415
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for civil engineers. The middle earner takes $110,000, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 9.08% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Washington reports, civil engineers comes in at 78 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $110,000 the take-home is $86,215; in national-average money that behaves like $79,415. The average comes to $117,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for civil engineers, at $110,000 — about 9.08% 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.
- Civil engineers ranks 78 of 493 occupations by median in Washington, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Take-home for civil engineers in Washington, on $110,000, is $86,215; deflated by the state's price level, $79,415. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $117,670 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $110,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $160,670 |
| This salary | $110,000 |
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 | $86,215 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $86,215 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,306 |
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 | $110,000 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,854 |
| 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 civil engineers in Washington earn under $110,000 and half over. The published range runs $81,840 at the tenth percentile to $160,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $86,215, from $110,000, 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 78 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 $79,415 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 78.
- Figures are distribution medians for civil engineers in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $81,840 to $160,670; 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 $86,215 from $110,000. 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 78 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $79,415, worked from $110,000, 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 78 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $117,670 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $81,840 at the tenth percentile, $160,670 at the ninetieth.
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 $79,415 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $86,215 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $117,670. 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 ($81,840 to $160,670) 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 $79,415 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 $86,215 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.