Waiters and Waitresses in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,280
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$8,850
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,552
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
$56,130
Kept after tax
$47,280
Worth in national money
$43,552
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for waiters and waitresses. The middle earner takes $56,130, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 59.32% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Washington reports figures for, this is number 350.
- Washington is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $56,130 the take-home is $47,280; in national-average money that behaves like $43,552. The average comes to $60,590, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Washington ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for waiters and waitresses, at $56,130 — about 59.32% 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.
- In Washington's occupational distribution, waiters and waitresses sits at 350 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for waiters and waitresses in Washington, on $56,130, is $47,280; deflated by the state's price level, $43,552. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $60,590 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Waiters and Waitresses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $94,930 |
| This salary | $56,130 |
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 | $47,280 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,280 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,103 |
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 | $56,130 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,172 |
| 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 waiters and waitresses in Washington earn under $56,130 and half over. The published range runs $36,710 at the tenth percentile to $94,930 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $47,280, from $56,130, 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 350 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 $43,552, the adjusted value of that $56,130 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 350 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for waiters and waitresses in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,710 to $94,930; 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 $47,280 from $56,130. 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 350 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Washington, so $43,552 — the adjusted value of that $56,130 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 350 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 $60,590 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $36,710 at the bottom tenth to $94,930 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $43,552 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $47,280 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?
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 Washington is $60,590. 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 ($36,710) and the ninetieth ($94,930) 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 $43,552 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 $47,280 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.