Retail Salespersons in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,971
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$6,529
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,853
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$38,500
Kept after tax
$31,971
Worth in national money
$28,853
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for retail salespersons is strong here. District of Columbia's middle earner gets $38,500, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 8.73% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 390 occupations District of Columbia publishes, retail salespersons lands at 378. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $38,500, tax leaves $31,971 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,853 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $42,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- For retail salespersons, District of Columbia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $38,500, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 8.73% 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.
- Within District of Columbia, this work ranks 378 of 390 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $31,971 remains from the District of Columbia median of $38,500 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,853 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $42,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Retail Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,530 |
| This salary | $38,500 |
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 District of Columbia | $31,971 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,115 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,224 |
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 | $37,076 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,318 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
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 retail salespersons in District of Columbia earn under $38,500 and half over. The published range runs $36,400 at the tenth percentile to $49,530 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $31,971, from $38,500, 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 378 of 390 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,853 uses one figure for the whole of District of Columbia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 390 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 378.
- Figures are distribution medians for retail salespersons in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,400 to $49,530; 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 District of Columbia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,971 from $38,500. 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 378 of 390 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,853, worked from $38,500, 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 District of Columbia address, on work sitting at 378 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,380 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,400 at the bottom tenth to $49,530 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. District of Columbia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $28,853 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and District of Columbia's own levy, $31,971 remains.
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 District of Columbia is $42,380. 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 ($36,400 to $49,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to District of Columbia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,853 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $31,971 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
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.