Urban and Regional Planners in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,876
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$21,114
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,577
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
$100,990
Kept after tax
$79,876
Worth in national money
$73,577
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for urban and regional planners. The middle earner takes $100,990, which ranks 6 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 13.07% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Washington. It ranks 119 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $100,990 the take-home is $79,876. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $73,577 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $101,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 6 of 51 states publishing a median for urban and regional planners, at $100,990 — about 13.07% 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.
- Within Washington, urban and regional planners ranks 119 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $79,876 for urban and regional planners, from $100,990. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $73,577. ⚠️ 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 $101,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,340 |
| This salary | $100,990 |
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 | $79,876 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,876 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,622 |
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 | $100,990 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,909 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Washington earn less than $100,990. The published range is $77,190 up to $126,340, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $79,876, from $100,990, 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 119 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Washington, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $73,577, the adjusted value of that $100,990 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 119 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for urban and regional planners in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $77,190 to $126,340. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $79,876 from $100,990. 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 119 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $73,577 — the adjusted value of that $100,990 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 119 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $77,190 and the top tenth $126,340, so most people doing this work in Washington sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $73,577 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $79,876 of this wage reaches your account, because Washington takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($77,190 to $126,340) 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 $73,577 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 $79,876 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.