Credit Counselors in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,286
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$10,074
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,163
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
$62,360
Kept after tax
$52,286
Worth in national money
$48,163
State rank
7
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays credit counselors a middle wage of $62,360, ranking 7 of 46 states and sitting about 19.39% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Washington reports figures for, this is number 291.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $62,360 the take-home is $52,286; in national-average money that behaves like $48,163. The average comes to $65,530, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington's median for credit counselors is $62,360, about 19.39% above the national figure and 7 of 46 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Washington's occupational distribution, credit counselors sits at 291 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.
- Take-home for credit counselors in Washington, on $62,360, is $52,286; deflated by the state's price level, $48,163. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $65,530 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Credit Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,950 |
| This salary | $62,360 |
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 | $52,286 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,286 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,644 |
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 | $62,360 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,825 |
| 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 credit counselors in Washington earn under $62,360 and half over. The published range runs $47,920 at the tenth percentile to $82,950 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $52,286, worked from $62,360. 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 291 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,163, the adjusted value of that $62,360 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 291 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for credit counselors in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,920 to $82,950; 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.
- The Washington take-home of $52,286, on $62,360 for work ranking 291 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 291 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $48,163 — the adjusted value of that $62,360 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 291 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 $65,530 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 — $47,920 at the tenth percentile, $82,950 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 $48,163 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $52,286 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 $65,530. 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 ($47,920 to $82,950) 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 $48,163 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 $52,286 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.