Communications Teachers, Postsecondary in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,825
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$13,505
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,949
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
$75,330
Kept after tax
$61,825
Worth in national money
$56,949
State rank
31
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $75,330, ranking 31 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Washington reports figures for, this is number 234.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $75,330, tax leaves $61,825 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $56,949 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $77,690, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington occupies the middle band for communications teachers, postsecondary: a median of $75,330, ranking 31 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Washington's occupational distribution, communications teachers, postsecondary sits at 234 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $61,825 remains from the Washington median of $75,330 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $56,949 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $77,690 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Communications Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,640 |
| This salary | $75,330 |
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 | $61,825 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,825 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,673 |
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 | $75,330 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,170 |
| 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 $75,330. The published range is $49,960 up to $102,640, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $61,825 take-home in Washington comes from $75,330. 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 234 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,949 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 234.
- Reported values are medians; for communications teachers, postsecondary in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,960 to $102,640. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $61,825, from $75,330, 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 234 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,949, worked from $75,330, 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 234 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 $77,690 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $49,960 at the bottom tenth to $102,640 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 $56,949 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $61,825 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?
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 $77,690. 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 ($49,960 to $102,640) 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 $56,949 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 $61,825 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.