Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,991
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$5,599
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,310
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
$39,590
Kept after tax
$33,991
Worth in national money
$31,310
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for laundry and dry-cleaning workers. The middle earner takes $39,590, which ranks 1 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 13.47% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Washington, this one sits low: 479 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $39,590 the take-home is $33,991; in national-average money that behaves like $31,310. The average comes to $41,240, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington ranks 1 of 51 states publishing a median for laundry and dry-cleaning workers, at $39,590 — about 13.47% 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.
- Laundry and dry-cleaning workers occupies position 479 of 493 in Washington's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Take-home for laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Washington, on $39,590, is $33,991; deflated by the state's price level, $31,310. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $41,240 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,310 |
| This salary | $39,590 |
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 | $33,991 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,991 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,669 |
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 | $39,590 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,437 |
| 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 $39,590. The published range is $35,940 up to $47,310, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $33,991 take-home in Washington comes from $39,590. 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 479 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,310, the adjusted value of that $39,590 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 479 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,940 to $47,310. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $33,991, from $39,590, 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 479 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $31,310 — the adjusted value of that $39,590 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 479 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 $41,240 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 — $35,940 at the tenth percentile, $47,310 at the ninetieth.
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 $31,310 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $33,991 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 $41,240. 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 ($35,940 to $47,310) 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 $31,310 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 $33,991 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.