Tax Preparers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,635
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$6,735
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,588
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
$45,370
Kept after tax
$38,635
Worth in national money
$35,588
State rank
33
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Washington pays tax preparers a middle wage of $45,370, 33 of 48 states and about 17.39% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, tax preparers ranks 442. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $45,370 the take-home is $38,635. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $35,588 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $49,380, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington's $45,370 median for tax preparers places it 33 of 48 states, about 17.39% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, tax preparers ranks 442 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $38,635 for tax preparers, from $45,370. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,588. ⚠️ 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 $49,380 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,480 |
| This salary | $45,370 |
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 | $38,635 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,635 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,170 |
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 | $45,370 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,043 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,370 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,260 and the ninetieth is $71,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $38,635, from $45,370, 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 442 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 $35,588 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 442.
- The Washington median of $45,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,260 to $71,480. 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 Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,635 from $45,370. 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 442 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,588, worked from $45,370, 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 442 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 $49,380, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $38,260, the highest tenth $71,480, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $35,588 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $38,635 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $49,380. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,260) and the ninetieth ($71,480) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $35,588 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 $38,635 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.