First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$99,677
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$29,673
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,815
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
$129,350
Kept after tax
$99,677
Worth in national money
$91,815
State rank
3
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $129,350, putting the state 3 of 50 — about 38.3% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Washington. It ranks 50 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $129,350 the take-home is $99,677. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $91,815 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $124,010, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For first-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $129,350, ranking 3 of 50 and running about 38.3% 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.
- Within Washington, first-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers ranks 50 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $99,677 for first-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers, from $129,350. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $91,815. ⚠️ 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 $124,010 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: First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $79,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $129,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $160,630 |
| This salary | $129,350 |
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 | $99,677 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $99,677 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,759 |
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 | $129,350 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,076 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $129,350 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $79,440 and the ninetieth is $160,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $99,677 take-home in Washington comes from $129,350. 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 50 of 493.
- Two cautions on $91,815, the adjusted value of that $129,350 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 50 of 493 locally.
- The Washington median of $129,350 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $79,440 to $160,630. 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 $99,677, from $129,350, 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 50 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 50 for it.
- This $91,815 adjusted figure, worked from $129,350, 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 50 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 50 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 $124,010, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $79,440 and the top tenth $160,630, so most people doing this work in Washington sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $91,815 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $99,677 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?
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 $124,010. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($79,440 to $160,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Washington rather than a national figure.
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 $91,815 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 $99,677 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.