Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers in Washington

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,205
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$6,875
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,113
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
$46,080
Kept after tax
$39,205
Worth in national money
$36,113
State rank
3
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $46,080, which ranks 3 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 16.28% above the national middle.
- Against 493 occupations Washington publishes, this job lands at 436. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $46,080, tax leaves $39,205 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,113 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $51,130, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington ranks 3 of 50 states publishing a median for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers, at $46,080 — about 16.28% 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.
- Within Washington, this work ranks 436 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.
- After tax, $39,205 remains from the Washington median of $46,080 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,113 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $51,130 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: Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,690 |
| This salary | $46,080 |
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 | $39,205 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,205 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,232 |
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 | $46,080 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,118 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,080 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,670 and the ninetieth is $78,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $39,205 take-home in Washington comes from $46,080. 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 436 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $36,113 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 436.
- The Washington median of $46,080 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,670 to $78,690. 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 $39,205, from $46,080, 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 436 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,113, worked from $46,080, 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 436 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 $51,130, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $36,670 at the bottom tenth to $78,690 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $36,113 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $39,205 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $51,130. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,670) and the ninetieth ($78,690) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $36,113 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 $39,205 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.