Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,020
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$19,910
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,946
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
$96,930
Kept after tax
$77,020
Worth in national money
$70,946
State rank
30
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington sits in the middle of the pack for physics teachers, postsecondary. The median is $96,930, ranking 30 of 47 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 137 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $96,930 the take-home is $77,020. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $70,946 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $98,420, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington occupies the middle band for physics teachers, postsecondary: a median of $96,930, ranking 30 of 47. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 137 of 493 in Washington places physics teachers, postsecondary 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $77,020 for physics teachers, postsecondary, from $96,930. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,946. ⚠️ 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 $98,420 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $96,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $166,100 |
| This salary | $96,930 |
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 | $77,020 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,020 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,313 |
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 | $96,930 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,483 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 physics teachers, postsecondary in Washington earn under $96,930 and half over. The published range runs $57,580 at the tenth percentile to $166,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $77,020, from $96,930, 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 137 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 $70,946, the adjusted value of that $96,930 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 137 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for physics teachers, postsecondary in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,580 to $166,100; 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.
- Take-home for Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $77,020 from $96,930. 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 137 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $70,946 — the adjusted value of that $96,930 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 137 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $57,580 and the top tenth $166,100 — 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 Washington run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $70,946 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $77,020 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($57,580) and the ninetieth ($166,100) 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?
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 $70,946 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 $77,020 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.