Industrial Engineers in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,690
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$27,610
26.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,309
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$103,300
Kept after tax
$75,690
Worth in national money
$68,309
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. District of Columbia pays industrial engineers around $103,300 at the midpoint, 21 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Industrial engineers ranks 105 among 390 occupations District of Columbia publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $103,300, tax leaves $75,690 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $68,309 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $115,810, since top earners drag the number up.
- For industrial engineers the District of Columbia median is $103,300, ranking 21 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 105 of 390 in District of Columbia places industrial engineers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $75,690 remains from the District of Columbia median of $103,300 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $68,309 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $115,810 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Industrial Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $153,520 |
| This salary | $103,300 |
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 District of Columbia | $75,690 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,502 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,562 |
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 | $95,038 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,495 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
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 industrial engineers in District of Columbia earn under $103,300 and half over. The published range runs $81,240 at the tenth percentile to $153,520 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $75,690, from $103,300, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 105 of 390 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,309 uses one figure for the whole of District of Columbia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 390 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 105.
- Figures are distribution medians for industrial engineers in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $81,240 to $153,520; 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.
- Take-home for District of Columbia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $75,690 from $103,300. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 105 of 390 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,309, worked from $103,300, 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 District of Columbia address, on work sitting at 105 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $115,810, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $81,240 at the bottom tenth to $153,520 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. District of Columbia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $68,309 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and District of Columbia's own levy, $75,690 remains.
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 District of Columbia is $115,810. 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 ($81,240 to $153,520) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to District of Columbia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $68,309 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $75,690 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
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.