Protective Service Workers, All Other in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,064
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$6,106
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,219
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
$42,170
Kept after tax
$36,064
Worth in national money
$33,219
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Washington pays this job a middle wage of $42,170, 38 of 51 states and about 0.87% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 465. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $42,170 the take-home is $36,064. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $33,219 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $45,480, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington's $42,170 median for protective service workers, all other places it 38 of 51 states, about 0.87% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, protective service workers, all other ranks 465 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $36,064 for protective service workers, all other, from $42,170. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,219. ⚠️ 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 $45,480 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Protective Service Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,210 |
| This salary | $42,170 |
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 | $36,064 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,064 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,893 |
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 | $42,170 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,708 |
| 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 protective service workers, all other in Washington earn under $42,170 and half over. The published range runs $34,650 at the tenth percentile to $59,210 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $36,064, from $42,170, 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 465 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $33,219, the adjusted value of that $42,170 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Washington. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 465 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for protective service workers, all other in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,650 to $59,210; 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 $36,064 from $42,170. 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 465 of 493 locally.
- This $33,219 adjusted figure, worked from $42,170, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 465 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 465 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 $45,480, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,650 and the top tenth $59,210, so most people doing this work in Washington sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $33,219 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $36,064 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.
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 $45,480. 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 ($34,650 to $59,210) 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 $33,219 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 $36,064 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.