Photographers in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,433
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$30,537
27.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,591
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
$110,970
Kept after tax
$80,433
Worth in national money
$72,591
State rank
1
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for photographers is strong here. District of Columbia's middle earner gets $110,970, putting the state 1 of 49 — about 148.48% ahead of the national figure.
- Within District of Columbia this is well-paid work. Of 390 occupations with published figures in the state, photographers ranks 76 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- District of Columbia is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $110,970 the take-home is $80,433; in national-average money that behaves like $72,591. The average lands at $104,630, below the middle of the range.
- For photographers, District of Columbia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $110,970, ranking 1 of 49 and running about 148.48% 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, photographers sits 76 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 photographers in District of Columbia, on $110,970, is $80,433; deflated by the state's price level, $72,591. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $104,630 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $110,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $148,360 |
| This salary | $110,970 |
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 | $80,433 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $86,897 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$16,833 |
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 | $101,782 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$23,251 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $110,970 as a midpoint for District of Columbia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,080 and the ninetieth is $148,360 — 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 District of Columbia's $80,433, worked from $110,970. 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 76 of 390.
- One number stands for prices across all of District of Columbia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $72,591, the adjusted value of that $110,970 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 76 of 390 in the state.
- The District of Columbia median of $110,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,080 to $148,360. 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 District of Columbia take-home of $80,433, on $110,970 for work ranking 76 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 76 of 390 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for District of Columbia, so $72,591 — the adjusted value of that $110,970 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 76 of 390 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 $104,630, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $46,080 at the bottom tenth to $148,360 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. District of Columbia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $72,591 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; District of Columbia then takes its own share, leaving $80,433.
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 49 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 District of Columbia is $104,630. 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 ($46,080) and the ninetieth ($148,360) 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 $72,591 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 $80,433 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.
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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.