Dentists, General in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$127,276
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$42,454
25.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$117,238
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
$169,730
Kept after tax
$127,276
Worth in national money
$117,238
State rank
25
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Washington pays dentists, general around $169,730 at the midpoint, 25 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Washington reports, dentists, general comes in at 12 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $169,730 the take-home is $127,276; in national-average money that behaves like $117,238. The average comes to $195,810, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For dentists, general the Washington median is $169,730, ranking 25 of 47 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Dentists, general ranks 12 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 dentists, general in Washington, on $169,730, is $127,276; deflated by the state's price level, $117,238. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $195,810 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dentists, General
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $85,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $169,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $346,840 |
| This salary | $169,730 |
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 | $127,276 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $127,276 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,738 |
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 | $169,730 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$19,532 |
| 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 dentists, general in Washington earn under $169,730 and half over. The published range runs $85,240 at the tenth percentile to $346,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $127,276 take-home in Washington comes from $169,730. 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 12 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $117,238 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 12.
- Figures are distribution medians for dentists, general in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $85,240 to $346,840; 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.
- Retained pay of $127,276, from $169,730, 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 12 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $117,238, worked from $169,730, 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 12 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 $195,810 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $85,240, the highest tenth $346,840, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $117,238 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $127,276 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.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $195,810. 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 ($85,240) and the ninetieth ($346,840) 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 $117,238 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 $127,276 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.