Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,685
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$21,455
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,322
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
$102,140
Kept after tax
$80,685
Worth in national money
$74,322
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $102,140, which ranks 1 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 58.68% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Washington reports, this job comes in at 108 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $102,140 the take-home is $80,685; in national-average money that behaves like $74,322. The average lands at $99,330, below the middle of the range.
- Washington ranks 1 of 51 states publishing a median for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education, at $102,140 — about 58.68% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 108 of 493 occupations by median in Washington, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Take-home for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Washington, on $102,140, is $80,685; deflated by the state's price level, $74,322. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $99,330 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,170 |
| This salary | $102,140 |
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 | $80,685 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,685 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,709 |
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 | $102,140 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,030 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Washington earn less than $102,140. The published range is $65,250 up to $128,170, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $80,685 take-home in Washington comes from $102,140. 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 108 of 493.
- Two cautions on $74,322, the adjusted value of that $102,140 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 108 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,250 to $128,170. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $80,685, from $102,140, 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 108 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 51 for it.
- This $74,322 adjusted figure, worked from $102,140, 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 108 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 108 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $65,250 at the tenth percentile, $128,170 at the ninetieth.
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 $74,322 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $80,685 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($65,250 to $128,170) 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 $74,322 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 $80,685 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.