Training and Development Specialists in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,419
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$15,441
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,180
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
$81,860
Kept after tax
$66,419
Worth in national money
$61,180
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $81,860, which ranks 4 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 18.16% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Washington, this sits in the middle: 179 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $81,860 the take-home is $66,419. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $61,180 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $89,460, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 4 of 51 states publishing a median for training and development specialists, at $81,860 — about 18.16% 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.
- Training and development specialists ranks 179 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $66,419 for training and development specialists, from $81,860. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,180. ⚠️ 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 $89,460 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Training and Development Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $135,800 |
| This salary | $81,860 |
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 | $66,419 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,419 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,169 |
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 | $81,860 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,903 |
| 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 training and development specialists in Washington earn under $81,860 and half over. The published range runs $47,910 at the tenth percentile to $135,800 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $66,419, from $81,860, 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 179 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 $61,180 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 179.
- Figures are distribution medians for training and development specialists in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,910 to $135,800; 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 $66,419 from $81,860. 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 179 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $61,180, worked from $81,860, 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 179 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 $89,460 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $47,910, the highest tenth $135,800, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $61,180 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $66,419 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $89,460. 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 ($47,910) and the ninetieth ($135,800) 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 $61,180 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 $66,419 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.