Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,325
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$13,295
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,489
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
$74,620
Kept after tax
$61,325
Worth in national money
$56,489
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $74,620, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 50.17% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 238 among 493 occupations Washington publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $74,620, tax leaves $61,325 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $56,489 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $71,690.
- Washington ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for refuse and recyclable material collectors, at $74,620 — about 50.17% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 238 of 493 in Washington places refuse and recyclable material collectors 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, $61,325 remains from the Washington median of $74,620 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $56,489 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $71,690 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,990 |
| This salary | $74,620 |
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 | $61,325 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,325 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,619 |
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 | $74,620 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,016 |
| 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 $74,620. The published range is $54,070 up to $88,990, 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 $61,325, worked from $74,620. 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 238 of 493.
- Two cautions on $56,489, the adjusted value of that $74,620 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 238 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $54,070 to $88,990. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Washington take-home of $61,325, on $74,620 for work ranking 238 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 238 of 493 in the state.
- This $56,489 adjusted figure, worked from $74,620, 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 238 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 238 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 $71,690, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $54,070 at the bottom tenth to $88,990 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Washington run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $56,489 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $61,325 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 $71,690. 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 ($54,070 to $88,990) 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 $56,489 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 $61,325 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.