Postsecondary Teachers, All Other in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,364
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$14,576
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,288
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
$78,940
Kept after tax
$64,364
Worth in national money
$59,288
State rank
12
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $78,940, putting the state 12 of 48 — about 1.67% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 205 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $78,940, tax leaves $64,364 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $59,288 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $88,580, since top earners drag the number up.
- For postsecondary teachers, all other, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $78,940, ranking 12 of 48 and running about 1.67% 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.
- Position 205 of 493 in Washington places postsecondary teachers, all other 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.
- After tax, $64,364 remains from the Washington median of $78,940 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $59,288 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $88,580 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postsecondary Teachers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $156,510 |
| This salary | $78,940 |
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 | $64,364 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,364 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,947 |
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 | $78,940 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,596 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Washington earn less than $78,940. The published range is $50,750 up to $156,510, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $64,364 take-home in Washington comes from $78,940. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 205 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,288, the adjusted value of that $78,940 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 205 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for postsecondary teachers, all other in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,750 to $156,510. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $64,364, from $78,940, assumes a single Washington filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 205 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $59,288 — the adjusted value of that $78,940 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 205 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $88,580, 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 $50,750 and the top tenth $156,510 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $59,288 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $64,364 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 48 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 Washington is $88,580. 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 ($50,750) and the ninetieth ($156,510) 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 $59,288 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 $64,364 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.