Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,215
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$10,545
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,939
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
$64,760
Kept after tax
$54,215
Worth in national money
$49,939
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays this job a middle wage of $64,760, ranking 2 of 51 states and sitting about 10.44% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Washington reports figures for, this is number 271.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $64,760 the take-home is $54,215; in national-average money that behaves like $49,939. The average comes to $68,230, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington's median for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers is $64,760, about 10.44% above the national figure and 2 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Washington's occupational distribution, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers sits at 271 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in Washington, on $64,760, is $54,215; deflated by the state's price level, $49,939. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $68,230 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $87,500 |
| This salary | $64,760 |
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 | $54,215 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,215 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,852 |
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 | $64,760 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,077 |
| 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 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in Washington earn under $64,760 and half over. The published range runs $50,010 at the tenth percentile to $87,500 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 $54,215, worked from $64,760. 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 271 of 493.
- Two cautions on $49,939, the adjusted value of that $64,760 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 271 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,010 to $87,500; 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 $54,215, on $64,760 for work ranking 271 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 271 of 493 in the state.
- This $49,939 adjusted figure, worked from $64,760, 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 271 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 271 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 $68,230 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $50,010 at the tenth percentile, $87,500 at the ninetieth.
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 $49,939 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $54,215 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 $68,230. 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 ($50,010 to $87,500) 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 $49,939 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 $54,215 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.