Electrical Engineers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$101,973
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$30,737
23.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$93,931
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
$132,710
Kept after tax
$101,973
Worth in national money
$93,931
State rank
5
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for electrical engineers. The middle earner takes $132,710, which ranks 5 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 10.01% above the national middle.
- Within Washington this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, electrical engineers ranks 42 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $132,710, tax leaves $101,973 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $93,931 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $136,970, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington ranks 5 of 49 states publishing a median for electrical engineers, at $132,710 — about 10.01% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Ranked against every occupation Washington publishes a median for, electrical engineers sits 42 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After tax, $101,973 remains from the Washington median of $132,710 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $93,931 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $136,970 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Electrical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $85,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $132,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $185,690 |
| This salary | $132,710 |
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 | $101,973 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $101,973 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,007 |
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 | $132,710 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,514 |
| 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 $132,710. The published range is $85,540 up to $185,690, 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 $101,973, worked from $132,710. 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 42 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $93,931 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 42.
- Reported values are medians; for electrical engineers in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $85,540 to $185,690. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Washington take-home of $101,973, on $132,710 for work ranking 42 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 42 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $93,931, worked from $132,710, 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 42 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $136,970, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $85,540 and the top tenth $185,690 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $93,931 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $101,973 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 49 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 $136,970. 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 ($85,540) and the ninetieth ($185,690) 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 $93,931 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 $101,973 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.