Special Education Teachers, Secondary School in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,968
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$21,152
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,661
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
$101,120
Kept after tax
$79,968
Worth in national money
$73,661
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Washington pays this job a middle wage of $101,120, ranking 1 of 51 states and sitting about 36.17% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Washington reports, this job comes in at 117 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $101,120 the take-home is $79,968; in national-average money that behaves like $73,661. The average lands at $97,960, below the middle of the range.
- Washington's median for special education teachers, secondary school is $101,120, about 36.17% above the national figure and 1 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.
- Special education teachers, secondary school ranks 117 of 493 occupations by median in Washington, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Take-home for special education teachers, secondary school in Washington, on $101,120, is $79,968; deflated by the state's price level, $73,661. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $97,960 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $67,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,090 |
| This salary | $101,120 |
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 | $79,968 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,968 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,632 |
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 | $101,120 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,923 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $101,120 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $67,880 and the ninetieth is $128,090 — 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 $79,968, worked from $101,120. 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 117 of 493.
- Two cautions on $73,661, the adjusted value of that $101,120 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Washington. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 117 of 493 locally.
- The Washington median of $101,120 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $67,880 to $128,090. 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 $79,968, on $101,120 for work ranking 117 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 117 of 493 in the state.
- This $73,661 adjusted figure, worked from $101,120, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 117 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 117 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $97,960, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $67,880 at the tenth percentile, $128,090 at the ninetieth.
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 $73,661 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $79,968 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?
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 Washington is $97,960. 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 ($67,880 to $128,090) 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 $73,661 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 $79,968 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.