Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$97,790
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$28,800
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$90,078
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
$126,590
Kept after tax
$97,790
Worth in national money
$90,078
State rank
5
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $126,590, which ranks 5 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 9.93% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Washington reports, this job comes in at 57 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $126,590 the take-home is $97,790. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $90,078 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $134,250, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 5 of 45 states publishing a median for health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors, at $126,590 — about 9.93% 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.
- Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors ranks 57 of 493 occupations by median in Washington, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $97,790 for health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors, from $126,590. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $90,078. ⚠️ 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 $134,250 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $91,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $179,340 |
| This salary | $126,590 |
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 | $97,790 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,790 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,555 |
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 | $126,590 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,716 |
| 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 health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors in Washington earn under $126,590 and half over. The published range runs $91,560 at the tenth percentile to $179,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $97,790 take-home in Washington comes from $126,590. 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 57 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $90,078 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 57.
- Figures are distribution medians for health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $91,560 to $179,340; 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.
- Retained pay of $97,790, from $126,590, 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 57 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $90,078, worked from $126,590, 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 57 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 $134,250, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $91,560 and the top tenth $179,340, 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 $90,078 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $97,790 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. 45 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 $134,250. 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 ($91,560 to $179,340) 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 $90,078 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 $97,790 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.