Light Truck Drivers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,608
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$7,462
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,326
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
$49,070
Kept after tax
$41,608
Worth in national money
$38,326
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays light truck drivers a middle wage of $49,070, ranking 3 of 51 states and sitting about 9.38% above the national middle.
- Against 493 occupations Washington publishes, light truck drivers lands at 397. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $49,070 the take-home is $41,608; in national-average money that behaves like $38,326. The average comes to $53,520, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington's median for light truck drivers is $49,070, about 9.38% above the national figure and 3 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Washington, this work ranks 397 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Take-home for light truck drivers in Washington, on $49,070, is $41,608; deflated by the state's price level, $38,326. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $53,520 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,080 |
| This salary | $49,070 |
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 | $41,608 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,608 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,491 |
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 | $49,070 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,432 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of light truck drivers in Washington earn under $49,070 and half over. The published range runs $37,890 at the tenth percentile to $74,080 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $41,608 take-home in Washington comes from $49,070. 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 397 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,326 uses one figure for the whole of Washington. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 397.
- Figures are distribution medians for light truck drivers in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,890 to $74,080; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $41,608, from $49,070, 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 397 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,326, worked from $49,070, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Washington address, on work sitting at 397 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $53,520, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $37,890 and the top tenth $74,080 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $38,326 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $41,608 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 $53,520. 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 ($37,890) and the ninetieth ($74,080) 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 $38,326 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 $41,608 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.