Social and Human Service Assistants in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,188
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$8,582
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,545
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
$54,770
Kept after tax
$46,188
Worth in national money
$42,545
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $54,770, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 19.25% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Washington, this sits in the middle: 356 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $54,770, tax leaves $46,188 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $42,545 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $55,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- For social and human service assistants, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $54,770, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 19.25% 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.
- Social and human service assistants ranks 356 of 493 occupations in Washington by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After tax, $46,188 remains from the Washington median of $54,770 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $42,545 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $55,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social and Human Service Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,770 |
| This salary | $54,770 |
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 | $46,188 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,188 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,985 |
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 | $54,770 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,029 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 social and human service assistants in Washington earn under $54,770 and half over. The published range runs $43,180 at the tenth percentile to $72,770 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $46,188, from $54,770, 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 356 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,545 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 356.
- Figures are distribution medians for social and human service assistants in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,180 to $72,770; 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 Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,188 from $54,770. 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 356 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,545, worked from $54,770, 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 356 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,180 at the tenth percentile, $72,770 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Washington costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $42,545 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $46,188 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,180 to $72,770) 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 $42,545 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 $46,188 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.