Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,686
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$6,014
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,871
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
$41,700
Kept after tax
$35,686
Worth in national money
$32,871
State rank
28
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Washington is 28 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $41,700. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 466. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $41,700 the take-home is $35,686; in national-average money that behaves like $32,871. The average comes to $44,340, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington ranks 28 of 50 for packaging and filling machine operators and tenders at $41,700. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, packaging and filling machine operators and tenders ranks 466 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.
- Take-home for packaging and filling machine operators and tenders in Washington, on $41,700, is $35,686; deflated by the state's price level, $32,871. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $44,340 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,250 |
| This salary | $41,700 |
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 | $35,686 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,686 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,852 |
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 | $41,700 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,658 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $41,700 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,310 and the ninetieth is $57,250 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $35,686, from $41,700, 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 466 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $32,871, the adjusted value of that $41,700 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 466 of 493 in the state.
- The Washington median of $41,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,310 to $57,250. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,686 from $41,700. 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 466 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $32,871 — the adjusted value of that $41,700 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 466 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 $44,340, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,310 and the top tenth $57,250, 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 $32,871 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $35,686 of this wage reaches your account, because Washington takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $44,340. 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 ($36,310 to $57,250) 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 $32,871 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 $35,686 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.