Library Assistants, Clerical in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,486
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$11,904
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,856
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
$59,390
Kept after tax
$47,486
Worth in national money
$42,856
State rank
1
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. District of Columbia pays library assistants, clerical a middle wage of $59,390, ranking 1 of 50 states and sitting about 60.9% above the national middle.
- Against other work in District of Columbia, this sits in the middle: 289 of 390 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- District of Columbia is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $59,390 the take-home is $47,486; in national-average money that behaves like $42,856. The average lands at $59,220, below the middle of the range.
- District of Columbia's median for library assistants, clerical is $59,390, about 60.9% above the national figure and 1 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Library assistants, clerical ranks 289 of 390 occupations in District of Columbia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Take-home for library assistants, clerical in District of Columbia, on $59,390, is $47,486; deflated by the state's price level, $42,856. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $59,220 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Library Assistants, Clerical
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,570 |
| This salary | $59,390 |
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 | $47,486 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,900 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,495 |
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 | $56,386 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,273 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,390 as a midpoint for District of Columbia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,310 and the ninetieth is $78,570 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $47,486, from $59,390, 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 289 of 390 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $42,856, the adjusted value of that $59,390 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of District of Columbia. 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 289 of 390 locally.
- The District of Columbia median of $59,390 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,310 to $78,570. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- 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 $47,486 from $59,390. 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 289 of 390 locally.
- This $42,856 adjusted figure, worked from $59,390, 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 289 of 390 in the state. The occupation ranks 289 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,310 at the tenth percentile, $78,570 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $42,856 of national purchasing power.
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, $47,486 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,310 to $78,570) 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 $42,856 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 $47,486 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.
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.