Psychiatrists in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$218,259
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$86,661
28.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$201,046
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
$304,920
Kept after tax
$218,259
Worth in national money
$201,046
State rank
11
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays psychiatrists a middle wage of $304,920, ranking 11 of 46 states and sitting about 8.18% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Washington. It ranks 3 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $304,920 the take-home is $218,259. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $201,046 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $265,600, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Washington's median for psychiatrists is $304,920, about 8.18% above the national figure and 11 of 46 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, psychiatrists ranks 3 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $218,259 for psychiatrists, from $304,920. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $201,046. ⚠️ 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 $265,600 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in 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: Psychiatrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $92,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $304,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $363,850 |
| This salary | $304,920 |
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 | $218,259 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $218,259 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$23,559 |
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 | $304,920 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$36,361 |
| 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 $304,920. The published range is $92,320 up to $363,850, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $218,259 take-home in Washington comes from $304,920. 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 3 of 493.
- Two cautions on $201,046, the adjusted value of that $304,920 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 3 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for psychiatrists in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $92,320 to $363,850. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $218,259, from $304,920, 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 3 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 46 for it.
- This $201,046 adjusted figure, worked from $304,920, 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 3 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 3 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 $265,600, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $92,320, the highest tenth $363,850, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $201,046 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $218,259 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 46 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 $265,600. 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 ($92,320) and the ninetieth ($363,850) 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 $201,046 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 $218,259 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.