Food Preparation Workers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,051
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$5,859
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,287
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
$40,910
Kept after tax
$35,051
Worth in national money
$32,287
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food preparation workers is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $40,910, putting the state 1 of 51 — about 15.83% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 493 occupations Washington publishes, food preparation workers lands at 474. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $40,910 the take-home is $35,051. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $32,287 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $42,660, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For food preparation workers, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $40,910, ranking 1 of 51 and running about 15.83% 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, this work ranks 474 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $35,051 for food preparation workers, from $40,910. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,287. ⚠️ 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 $42,660 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,730 |
| This salary | $40,910 |
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 | $35,051 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,051 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,783 |
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 | $40,910 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,576 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of food preparation workers in Washington earn under $40,910 and half over. The published range runs $34,890 at the tenth percentile to $51,730 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $35,051, worked from $40,910. 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 474 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,287 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 474.
- Figures are distribution medians for food preparation workers in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,890 to $51,730; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Washington take-home of $35,051, on $40,910 for work ranking 474 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 474 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,287, worked from $40,910, 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 474 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 $42,660, 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 $34,890 and the top tenth $51,730, so most people doing this work in Washington sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Washington run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $32,287 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $35,051 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.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $42,660. 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 ($34,890 to $51,730) 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 $32,287 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 $35,051 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.