Project Management Specialists in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$96,129
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$28,031
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,548
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
$124,160
Kept after tax
$96,129
Worth in national money
$88,548
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays project management specialists a middle wage of $124,160, ranking 1 of 51 states and sitting about 21.34% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Washington. It ranks 64 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $124,160 the take-home is $96,129; in national-average money that behaves like $88,548. The average comes to $127,580, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington's median for project management specialists is $124,160, about 21.34% above the national figure and 1 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Washington, project management specialists ranks 64 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Take-home for project management specialists in Washington, on $124,160, is $96,129; deflated by the state's price level, $88,548. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $127,580 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $74,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $124,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $202,120 |
| This salary | $124,160 |
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 | $96,129 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $96,129 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,376 |
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 | $124,160 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,400 |
| 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 $124,160. The published range is $74,750 up to $202,120, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $96,129, worked from $124,160. 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 64 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $88,548 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 64.
- Reported values are medians; for project management specialists in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $74,750 to $202,120. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Washington take-home of $96,129, on $124,160 for work ranking 64 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 64 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $88,548, worked from $124,160, 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 64 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $74,750, the highest tenth $202,120, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $88,548 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $96,129 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($74,750) and the ninetieth ($202,120) 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 $88,548 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 $96,129 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.