Pharmacists in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$106,044
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$47,356
30.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$95,704
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$153,400
Kept after tax
$106,044
Worth in national money
$95,704
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for pharmacists is strong here. District of Columbia's middle earner gets $153,400, putting the state 8 of 51 — about 8.86% ahead of the national figure.
- Within District of Columbia this is well-paid work. Of 390 occupations with published figures in the state, pharmacists ranks 22 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- District of Columbia is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $153,400 the take-home is $106,044; in national-average money that behaves like $95,704. The average lands at $144,970, below the middle of the range.
- For pharmacists, District of Columbia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $153,400, ranking 8 of 51 and running about 8.86% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation District of Columbia publishes a median for, pharmacists sits 22 of 390 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Take-home for pharmacists in District of Columbia, on $153,400, is $106,044; deflated by the state's price level, $95,704. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $144,970 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Pharmacists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $153,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $196,080 |
| This salary | $153,400 |
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 District of Columbia | $106,044 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $116,115 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$23,786 |
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 | $138,666 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$33,754 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
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 pharmacists in District of Columbia earn under $153,400 and half over. The published range runs $64,870 at the tenth percentile to $196,080 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind District of Columbia's $106,044, worked from $153,400. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 22 of 390.
- Two cautions on $95,704, the adjusted value of that $153,400 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of District of Columbia. 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 22 of 390 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for pharmacists in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $64,870 to $196,080; 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.
- The District of Columbia take-home of $106,044, on $153,400 for work ranking 22 of 390 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 22 of 390 in the state.
- This $95,704 adjusted figure, worked from $153,400, 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 22 of 390 in the state. The occupation ranks 22 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $144,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $64,870 and the top tenth $196,080 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in District of Columbia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $95,704 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and District of Columbia's own levy, $106,044 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 District of Columbia is $144,970. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($64,870) and the ninetieth ($196,080) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $95,704 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $106,044 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
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.