Speech-Language Pathologists in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,450
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$29,930
27.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,703
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
$109,380
Kept after tax
$79,450
Worth in national money
$71,703
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- District of Columbia is one of the better-paying states for speech-language pathologists. The middle earner takes $109,380, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 11.76% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 390 occupations District of Columbia reports, speech-language pathologists comes in at 79 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $109,380, tax leaves $79,450 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $71,703 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $112,940, since top earners drag the number up.
- District of Columbia ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for speech-language pathologists, at $109,380 — about 11.76% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Speech-language pathologists ranks 79 of 390 occupations by median in District of Columbia, 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.
- After tax, $79,450 remains from the District of Columbia median of $109,380 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $71,703 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $112,940 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Speech-Language Pathologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $109,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,140 |
| This salary | $109,380 |
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 | $79,450 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $85,779 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$16,569 |
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 | $100,384 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$22,887 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
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 speech-language pathologists in District of Columbia earn under $109,380 and half over. The published range runs $81,800 at the tenth percentile to $137,140 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind District of Columbia's $79,450, worked from $109,380. 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 79 of 390.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $71,703 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 79.
- Figures are distribution medians for speech-language pathologists in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $81,800 to $137,140; 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.
- The District of Columbia take-home of $79,450, on $109,380 for work ranking 79 of 390 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 79 of 390 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $71,703, worked from $109,380, 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 79 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 $112,940 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 $81,800 at the bottom tenth to $137,140 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in District of Columbia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $71,703 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and District of Columbia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $79,450 of this wage survives to your account.
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 District of Columbia is $112,940. 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 ($81,800 to $137,140) 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 $71,703 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 $79,450 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.