Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,064
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$6,596
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,062
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
$44,660
Kept after tax
$38,064
Worth in national money
$35,062
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays shuttle drivers and chauffeurs a middle wage of $44,660, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 19.76% above the national middle.
- Against 493 occupations Washington publishes, shuttle drivers and chauffeurs lands at 451. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $44,660 the take-home is $38,064. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $35,062 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $47,540, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington's median for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs is $44,660, about 19.76% above the national figure and 4 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 Washington, this work ranks 451 of 493 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $38,064 for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs, from $44,660. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,062. ⚠️ 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 $47,540 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: Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,640 |
| This salary | $44,660 |
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 Washington | $38,064 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,064 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,109 |
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 | $44,660 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,969 |
| 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 $44,660. The published range is $37,650 up to $61,640, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,064 take-home in Washington comes from $44,660. 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 451 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,062 uses one figure for the whole of Washington. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 451.
- Reported values are medians; for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,650 to $61,640. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,064, from $44,660, 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 451 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,062, worked from $44,660, 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 Washington address, on work sitting at 451 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 $47,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,650 and the top tenth $61,640, so most people doing this work in Washington sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $35,062 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $38,064 of this wage reaches your account, because Washington takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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 $47,540. 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 ($37,650 to $61,640) 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 $35,062 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 $38,064 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.