Postal Service Mail Carriers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,382
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$9,608
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,408
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
$59,990
Kept after tax
$50,382
Worth in national money
$46,408
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington sits in the middle of the pack for postal service mail carriers. The median is $59,990, ranking 20 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Washington reports figures for, this is number 313.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $59,990, tax leaves $50,382 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $46,408 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $62,830, since top earners drag the number up.
- Washington occupies the middle band for postal service mail carriers: a median of $59,990, ranking 20 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Washington's occupational distribution, postal service mail carriers sits at 313 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.
- After tax, $50,382 remains from the Washington median of $59,990 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $46,408 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $62,830 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postal Service Mail Carriers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,040 |
| This salary | $59,990 |
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 | $50,382 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,382 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,438 |
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 | $59,990 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,577 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,990 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,120 and the ninetieth is $81,040 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $50,382, from $59,990, 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 313 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 $46,408 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 313.
- The Washington median of $59,990 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,120 to $81,040. 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 $50,382 from $59,990. 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 313 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,408, worked from $59,990, 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 313 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 $62,830, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,120 at the tenth percentile, $81,040 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Washington costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $46,408 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $50,382 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $62,830. 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 ($43,120 to $81,040) 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 $46,408 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 $50,382 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.