Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,072
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$9,288
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,202
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
$58,360
Kept after tax
$49,072
Worth in national money
$45,202
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $58,360, putting the state 14 of 50 — about 5.02% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Washington reports figures for, this is number 335.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $58,360 the take-home is $49,072. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $45,202 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $63,570, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For legal secretaries and administrative assistants, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $58,360, ranking 14 of 50 and running about 5.02% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Washington's occupational distribution, legal secretaries and administrative assistants sits at 335 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $49,072 for legal secretaries and administrative assistants, from $58,360. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,202. ⚠️ 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 $63,570 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $93,600 |
| This salary | $58,360 |
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 | $49,072 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,072 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,297 |
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 | $58,360 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,406 |
| 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 $58,360. The published range is $45,140 up to $93,600, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $49,072, from $58,360, 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 335 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,202, the adjusted value of that $58,360 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 335 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,140 to $93,600. 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 $49,072 from $58,360. 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 335 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $45,202 — the adjusted value of that $58,360 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 335 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 $63,570, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,140 at the bottom tenth to $93,600 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $45,202 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $49,072 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?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $63,570. 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 ($45,140) and the ninetieth ($93,600) 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 $45,202 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 $49,072 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.