Order Clerks in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,740
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$7,250
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,527
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
$47,990
Kept after tax
$40,740
Worth in national money
$37,527
State rank
13
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays order clerks a middle wage of $47,990, ranking 13 of 48 states and sitting about 3.94% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Washington, this one sits low: 415 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $47,990 the take-home is $40,740. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $37,527 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $52,810, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington's median for order clerks is $47,990, about 3.94% above the national figure and 13 of 48 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Order clerks occupies position 415 of 493 in Washington's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $40,740 for order clerks, from $47,990. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $37,527. ⚠️ 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 $52,810 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Order Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,400 |
| This salary | $47,990 |
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 | $40,740 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,740 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,397 |
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 | $47,990 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,318 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,990 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,710 and the ninetieth is $66,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $40,740 take-home in Washington comes from $47,990. 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 415 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,527, the adjusted value of that $47,990 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 415 of 493 in the state.
- The Washington median of $47,990 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,710 to $66,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $40,740, from $47,990, 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 415 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $37,527 — the adjusted value of that $47,990 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 415 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $52,810 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $42,710 at the bottom tenth to $66,400 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 $37,527 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $40,740 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?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $52,810. 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 ($42,710 to $66,400) 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 $37,527 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 $40,740 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.