Firefighters in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,325
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$19,195
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,384
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
$94,520
Kept after tax
$75,325
Worth in national money
$69,384
State rank
2
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for firefighters is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $94,520, putting the state 2 of 50 — about 59.45% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Firefighters ranks 148 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $94,520 the take-home is $75,325. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $69,384 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $89,200, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For firefighters, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $94,520, ranking 2 of 50 and running about 59.45% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 148 of 493 in Washington places firefighters 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 $75,325 for firefighters, from $94,520. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $69,384. ⚠️ 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 $89,200 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,640 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $94,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,980 |
| This salary | $94,520 |
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 | $75,325 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $75,325 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,130 |
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 | $94,520 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,231 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $94,520 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,640 and the ninetieth is $123,980 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $75,325, from $94,520, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 148 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $69,384, the adjusted value of that $94,520 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 148 of 493 in the state.
- The Washington median of $94,520 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,640 to $123,980. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $75,325 from $94,520. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 148 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $69,384 — the adjusted value of that $94,520 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 148 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 $89,200, 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 $47,640 and the top tenth $123,980 — 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 $69,384 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $75,325 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $89,200. 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 ($47,640) and the ninetieth ($123,980) 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 $69,384 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 $75,325 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.