Self-Enrichment Teachers in Washington

Books, colored pencils and a globe in a bright classroom.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$40,764

after federal, FICA and Washington tax

Tax takes

$7,256

15.1% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$37,549

Washington costs more than average

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

$48,020

Kept after tax

$40,764

Worth in national money

$37,549

State rank

15

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for self-enrichment teachers is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $48,020, putting the state 15 of 51 — about 2.61% ahead of the national figure.
  • Measured against other jobs in Washington, this one sits low: 413 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • The wage here flatters the reality. From $48,020 the take-home is $40,764. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $37,549 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $54,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For self-enrichment teachers, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $48,020, ranking 15 of 51 and running about 2.61% 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.
  • Self-enrichment teachers occupies position 413 of 493 in Washington's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
  • Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $40,764 for self-enrichment teachers, from $48,020. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $37,549. ⚠️ 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 $54,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of 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: Self-Enrichment Teachers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$36,360
Half earn under$48,020
Top tenth earn over$80,410
This salary$48,020

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

Compare with
$0take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Washington$40,764
Take-home in Texas$40,764
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$4,400

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

Moving to
$0now · $48,020$42,699
$42,699in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$48,020
You could take a cut of−$5,321
Prices in Texas97 vs 109

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $48,020 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,360 and the ninetieth is $80,410 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $40,764, worked from $48,020. 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 413 of 493.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,549, the adjusted value of that $48,020 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 413 of 493 in the state.
  • The Washington median of $48,020 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,360 to $80,410. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • The Washington take-home of $40,764, on $48,020 for work ranking 413 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 413 of 493 in the state.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $37,549 — the adjusted value of that $48,020 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 413 of 493 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 $54,590 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

The label is broader than the work. From $36,360 at the bottom tenth to $80,410 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

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 $37,549 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.

Is most of this wage taxed away?

No. $40,764 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 $54,590. 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 ($36,360) and the ninetieth ($80,410) 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 $37,549 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 $40,764 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.