Pharmacy Technicians in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,506
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$9,394
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,602
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
$58,900
Kept after tax
$49,506
Worth in national money
$45,602
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for pharmacy technicians is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $58,900, putting the state 1 of 51 — about 28.74% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Washington reports figures for, this is number 329.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $58,900 the take-home is $49,506. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $45,602 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $61,140, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For pharmacy technicians, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $58,900, ranking 1 of 51 and running about 28.74% 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.
- In Washington's occupational distribution, pharmacy technicians sits at 329 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $49,506 for pharmacy technicians, from $58,900. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,602. ⚠️ 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 $61,140 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Pharmacy Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,090 |
| This salary | $58,900 |
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 | $49,506 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,506 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,344 |
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 | $58,900 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,463 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $58,900 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,270 and the ninetieth is $79,090 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $49,506, worked from $58,900. 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 329 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,602, the adjusted value of that $58,900 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 329 of 493 in the state.
- The Washington median of $58,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,270 to $79,090. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Washington take-home of $49,506, on $58,900 for work ranking 329 of 493 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 329 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $45,602 — the adjusted value of that $58,900 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 329 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $61,140, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,270 and the top tenth $79,090, 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 $45,602 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $49,506 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 Washington is $61,140. 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 ($47,270 to $79,090) 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 $45,602 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 $49,506 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.