Manicurists and Pedicurists in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,275
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$7,625
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,941
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
$49,900
Kept after tax
$42,275
Worth in national money
$38,941
State rank
3
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays manicurists and pedicurists a middle wage of $49,900, ranking 3 of 49 states and sitting about 39.54% above the national middle.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, manicurists and pedicurists ranks 390. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,900, tax leaves $42,275 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $38,941 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $51,700, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington's median for manicurists and pedicurists is $49,900, about 39.54% above the national figure and 3 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, manicurists and pedicurists ranks 390 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After tax, $42,275 remains from the Washington median of $49,900 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $38,941 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $51,700 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Manicurists and Pedicurists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,430 |
| This salary | $49,900 |
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 | $42,275 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,275 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,563 |
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 | $49,900 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,519 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,900 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,660 and the ninetieth is $63,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $42,275, worked from $49,900. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 390 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,941 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 390.
- The Washington median of $49,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,660 to $63,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Washington take-home of $42,275, on $49,900 for work ranking 390 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 390 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,941, worked from $49,900, 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 390 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 $51,700, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,660 at the bottom tenth to $63,430 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $38,941 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $42,275 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $51,700. 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 ($38,660 to $63,430) 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 $38,941 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 $42,275 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.