Couriers and Messengers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,543
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$6,957
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,424
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
$46,500
Kept after tax
$39,543
Worth in national money
$36,424
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for couriers and messengers is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $46,500, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 18.62% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, couriers and messengers ranks 430. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $46,500 the take-home is $39,543; in national-average money that behaves like $36,424. The average comes to $47,020, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For couriers and messengers, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $46,500, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 18.62% 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.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, couriers and messengers ranks 430 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Take-home for couriers and messengers in Washington, on $46,500, is $39,543; deflated by the state's price level, $36,424. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $47,020 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Couriers and Messengers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,370 |
| This salary | $46,500 |
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 | $39,543 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,543 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,268 |
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 | $46,500 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,162 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,500 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,380 and the ninetieth is $55,370 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $39,543, worked from $46,500. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 430 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,424, the adjusted value of that $46,500 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 430 of 493 in the state.
- The Washington median of $46,500 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,380 to $55,370. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Washington take-home of $39,543, on $46,500 for work ranking 430 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 430 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $36,424 — the adjusted value of that $46,500 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 430 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,380 at the tenth percentile, $55,370 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Washington run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $36,424 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $39,543 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,380 to $55,370) 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 $36,424 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 $39,543 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.