Medical Assistants in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,820
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$9,470
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,890
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
$59,290
Kept after tax
$49,820
Worth in national money
$45,890
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for medical assistants is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $59,290, putting the state 1 of 51 — about 29.77% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Washington, this sits in the middle: 327 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $59,290 the take-home is $49,820. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $45,890 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $58,590, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For medical assistants, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $59,290, ranking 1 of 51 and running about 29.77% 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.
- Medical assistants ranks 327 of 493 occupations in Washington 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $49,820 for medical assistants, from $59,290. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,890. ⚠️ 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 $58,590 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,200 |
| This salary | $59,290 |
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 | $49,820 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,820 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,377 |
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 | $59,290 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,503 |
| 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 medical assistants in Washington earn under $59,290 and half over. The published range runs $46,540 at the tenth percentile to $74,200 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $49,820, from $59,290, 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 327 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $45,890, the adjusted value of that $59,290 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Washington. 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 327 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical assistants in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,540 to $74,200; 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.
- Take-home for Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,820 from $59,290. 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 327 of 493 locally.
- This $45,890 adjusted figure, worked from $59,290, 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 327 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 327 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $46,540 and the top tenth $74,200, so most people doing this work in Washington sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $45,890 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $49,820 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,540 to $74,200) 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 $45,890 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 $49,820 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.