Crossing Guards and Flaggers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,503
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$7,437
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,230
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
$48,940
Kept after tax
$41,503
Worth in national money
$38,230
State rank
3
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays crossing guards and flaggers a middle wage of $48,940, ranking 3 of 49 states and sitting about 28.45% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Washington, this one sits low: 399 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $48,940 the take-home is $41,503; in national-average money that behaves like $38,230. The average comes to $56,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington's median for crossing guards and flaggers is $48,940, about 28.45% above the national figure and 3 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Crossing guards and flaggers occupies position 399 of 493 in Washington's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Take-home for crossing guards and flaggers in Washington, on $48,940, is $41,503; deflated by the state's price level, $38,230. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $56,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Crossing Guards and Flaggers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,430 |
| This salary | $48,940 |
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 | $41,503 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,503 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,480 |
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 | $48,940 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,418 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,940 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,280 and the ninetieth is $78,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,503 take-home in Washington comes from $48,940. 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 399 of 493.
- Two cautions on $38,230, the adjusted value of that $48,940 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Washington. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 399 of 493 locally.
- The Washington median of $48,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,280 to $78,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $41,503, from $48,940, 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 399 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 49 for it.
- This $38,230 adjusted figure, worked from $48,940, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 399 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 399 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $56,460, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $40,280 and the top tenth $78,430 — 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 $38,230 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $41,503 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. 49 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 $56,460. 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 ($40,280) and the ninetieth ($78,430) 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 $38,230 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 $41,503 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.