Legal Support Workers, All Other in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$69,071
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$16,559
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,623
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
$85,630
Kept after tax
$69,071
Worth in national money
$63,623
State rank
7
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays legal support workers, all other a middle wage of $85,630, ranking 7 of 45 states and sitting about 18.75% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Legal support workers, all other ranks 164 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $85,630 the take-home is $69,071. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $63,623 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $92,220, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington's median for legal support workers, all other is $85,630, about 18.75% above the national figure and 7 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 164 of 493 in Washington places legal support workers, all other 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 $69,071 for legal support workers, all other, from $85,630. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $63,623. ⚠️ 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 $92,220 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: Legal Support Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $147,930 |
| This salary | $85,630 |
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 | $69,071 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,071 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,455 |
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 | $85,630 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,298 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $85,630 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,700 and the ninetieth is $147,930 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $69,071 take-home in Washington comes from $85,630. 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 164 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $63,623, the adjusted value of that $85,630 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 164 of 493 in the state.
- The Washington median of $85,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,700 to $147,930. 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 $69,071, from $85,630, 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 164 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $63,623 — the adjusted value of that $85,630 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 164 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 $92,220, 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 $52,700 and the top tenth $147,930 — 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 $63,623 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $69,071 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $92,220. 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 ($52,700) and the ninetieth ($147,930) 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 $63,623 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 $69,071 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.