Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,518
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$18,012
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,799
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
$90,530
Kept after tax
$72,518
Worth in national money
$66,799
State rank
3
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays this job a middle wage of $90,530, ranking 3 of 50 states and sitting about 69.72% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 156 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $90,530, tax leaves $72,518 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $66,799 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $90,790, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington's median for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators is $90,530, about 69.72% above the national figure and 3 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 156 of 493 in Washington places paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $72,518 remains from the Washington median of $90,530 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $66,799 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $90,790 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $90,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $118,760 |
| This salary | $90,530 |
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 | $72,518 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $72,518 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,827 |
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 | $90,530 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,812 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $90,530 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,860 and the ninetieth is $118,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $72,518, from $90,530, 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 156 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,799 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 156.
- The Washington median of $90,530 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,860 to $118,760. 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 $72,518 from $90,530. 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 156 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,799, worked from $90,530, 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 156 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $58,860 at the bottom tenth to $118,760 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 $66,799 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $72,518 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?
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($58,860 to $118,760) 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 $66,799 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 $72,518 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.