Food Batchmakers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,497
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$6,213
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,619
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
$42,710
Kept after tax
$36,497
Worth in national money
$33,619
State rank
13
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food batchmakers is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $42,710, putting the state 13 of 50 — about 0.99% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Washington, this one sits low: 462 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $42,710, tax leaves $36,497 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $33,619 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $44,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food batchmakers, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $42,710, ranking 13 of 50 and running about 0.99% 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.
- Food batchmakers occupies position 462 of 493 in Washington's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $36,497 remains from the Washington median of $42,710 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $33,619 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $44,750 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Food Batchmakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,780 |
| This salary | $42,710 |
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 | $36,497 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,497 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,939 |
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 | $42,710 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,764 |
| 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 $42,710. The published range is $36,920 up to $58,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $36,497 take-home in Washington comes from $42,710. 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 462 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,619 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 462.
- Reported values are medians; for food batchmakers in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,920 to $58,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $36,497, from $42,710, 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 462 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,619, worked from $42,710, 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 462 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 $44,750 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,920 at the bottom tenth to $58,780 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $33,619 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $36,497 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 $44,750. 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 ($36,920 to $58,780) 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 $33,619 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 $36,497 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.