Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,268
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$9,392
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,342
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
$49,660
Kept after tax
$40,268
Worth in national money
$36,342
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. District of Columbia pays this job a middle wage of $49,660, ranking 2 of 51 states and sitting about 9.72% above the national middle.
- Against 390 occupations District of Columbia publishes, this job lands at 319. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,660, tax leaves $40,268 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,342 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $55,160, since top earners drag the number up.
- District of Columbia's median for shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks is $49,660, about 9.72% above the national figure and 2 of 51 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 District of Columbia, this work ranks 319 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, $40,268 remains from the District of Columbia median of $49,660 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,342 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $55,160 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,530 |
| This salary | $49,660 |
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 | $40,268 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,082 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,963 |
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 | $47,403 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,421 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,660 as a midpoint for District of Columbia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,910 and the ninetieth is $71,530 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $40,268, from $49,660, 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 319 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 $36,342 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 319.
- The District of Columbia median of $49,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,910 to $71,530. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- 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 $40,268 from $49,660. 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 319 of 390 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,342, worked from $49,660, 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 319 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 $55,160 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 $41,910 at the bottom tenth to $71,530 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 $36,342 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, $40,268 remains.
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 District of Columbia is $55,160. 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 ($41,910 to $71,530) 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 $36,342 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 $40,268 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.