Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,941
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$10,479
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,687
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
$64,420
Kept after tax
$53,941
Worth in national money
$49,687
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $64,420, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 32.63% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 274 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $64,420 the take-home is $53,941. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $49,687 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $74,600, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, at $64,420 — about 32.63% 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.
- Position 274 of 493 in Washington places inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $53,941 for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, from $64,420. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,687. ⚠️ 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 $74,600 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,240 |
| This salary | $64,420 |
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 | $53,941 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,941 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,822 |
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 | $64,420 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,042 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Washington earn less than $64,420. The published range is $40,830 up to $115,240, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $53,941, from $64,420, 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 274 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $49,687, the adjusted value of that $64,420 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 274 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,830 to $115,240. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $53,941 from $64,420. 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 274 of 493 locally.
- This $49,687 adjusted figure, worked from $64,420, 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 274 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 274 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 $74,600, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $40,830 and the top tenth $115,240 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $49,687 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $53,941 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $74,600. 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 ($40,830) and the ninetieth ($115,240) 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 $49,687 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 $53,941 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.