Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,406
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$12,064
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,799
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
$70,470
Kept after tax
$58,406
Worth in national money
$53,799
State rank
5
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays this job a middle wage of $70,470, ranking 5 of 50 states and sitting about 18.84% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 254 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $70,470 the take-home is $58,406. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $53,799 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $79,600, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington's median for education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare is $70,470, about 18.84% above the national figure and 5 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 254 of 493 in Washington places education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $58,406 for education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare, from $70,470. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,799. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $79,600 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,980 |
| This salary | $70,470 |
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 | $58,406 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,406 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,304 |
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 | $70,470 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,118 |
| 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 $70,470. The published range is $49,060 up to $107,980, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $58,406, worked from $70,470. 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 254 of 493.
- Two cautions on $53,799, the adjusted value of that $70,470 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 254 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,060 to $107,980. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Washington take-home of $58,406, on $70,470 for work ranking 254 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 254 of 493 in the state.
- This $53,799 adjusted figure, worked from $70,470, 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 254 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 254 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 $79,600 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $49,060 at the bottom tenth to $107,980 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $53,799 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $58,406 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 50 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 $79,600. 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 ($49,060) and the ninetieth ($107,980) 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 $53,799 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 $58,406 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.