Average salary in Washington: $83,330 a year
The mean annual wage across every job BLS counts in Washington, with the median, the pay spread, the job groups and the occupations behind it.
The average salary in Washington is $83,330 a year ($40.06 an hour): that is the mean annual wage across 3,550,970 jobs in the BLS May 2025 survey. The median is $62,990 ($30.28 an hour), so half of those jobs paid less and half paid more. The mean sits above the median because a smaller number of very high wages pulls it up.
How Washington compares with the United States
Washington's mean salary is $13,560 (19.4%) above the U.S. figure of $69,770; its median is $12,010 (23.6%) above the U.S. figure of $50,980. Among the 50 states and DC, Washington ranks 3rd by mean salary and 3rd by median salary (1 = highest; calculated from the BLS figures).
| Measure | Washington | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Mean (average) salary | $83,330 | $69,770 |
| Median salary | $62,990 | $50,980 |
| Mean hourly wage | $40.06 | $33.54 |
| Median hourly wage | $30.28 | $24.51 |
| Jobs counted | 3,550,970 | 155,495,730 |
Prices matter as much as pay. BEA's regional price parity for Washington in 2024 is 107.0, where the United States = 100: overall prices there were about 7.0% above the national price level. A salary goes further where the index is lower.
What jobs in Washington pay, from low to high
One job in ten in Washington paid less than $38,670 a year, and one in ten paid more than $153,630. A quarter paid less than $47,020; a quarter paid more than $101,710.
| Area | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | $38,670 | $47,020 | $62,990 | $101,710 | $153,630 |
| United States | $31,200 | $37,590 | $50,980 | $80,520 | $128,560 |
Pay by job group in Washington
The largest group in Washington is office and administrative support, with 372,400 jobs (10% of the total, calculated). The best-paid group by median is management ($159,990); the lowest-paid is farming, fishing, and forestry ($40,330). Where BLS does not release a figure, the table says so.
| Job group | Jobs | Median salary | Mean (average) salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office and Administrative Support | 372,400 | $56,660 | $59,770 |
| Transportation and Material Moving | 298,930 | $50,500 | $59,300 |
| Business and Financial Operations | 295,720 | $98,030 | $106,570 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related | 294,700 | $44,590 | $48,390 |
| Sales and Related | 294,020 | $47,510 | $62,610 |
| Computer and Mathematical | 239,720 | $136,830 | $145,450 |
| Educational Instruction and Library | 199,230 | $66,420 | $77,380 |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical | 192,470 | $108,780 | $129,710 |
| Healthcare Support | 188,800 | $48,400 | $51,860 |
| Management | 181,480 | $159,990 | $173,530 |
| Construction and Extraction | 167,890 | $75,500 | $82,360 |
| Production | 159,640 | $55,380 | $62,450 |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair | 133,880 | $69,090 | $75,160 |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance | 96,610 | $45,760 | $48,270 |
| Architecture and Engineering | 78,360 | $112,400 | $119,320 |
| Protective Service | 77,850 | $62,090 | $73,020 |
| Personal Care and Service | 69,570 | $47,150 | $54,330 |
| Community and Social Service | 68,110 | $67,650 | $72,690 |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science | 46,720 | $94,160 | $100,090 |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media | 46,490 | $64,850 | $81,940 |
| Legal | 26,640 | $107,090 | $129,230 |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry | 21,740 | $40,330 | $44,880 |
The occupations with the most jobs in Washington
8 of the 12 largest occupations in Washington with a published annual median paid a median below the all-jobs median of $62,990 (calculated from the BLS figures).
| Occupation | Jobs | Median salary |
|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | 107,030 | $166,540 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 103,260 | $47,730 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 94,710 | $37,710 |
| Retail Salespersons | 84,850 | $39,560 |
| Registered Nurses | 69,260 | $124,200 |
| Cashiers | 61,050 | $38,720 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 57,370 | $44,620 |
| Business Operations Specialists, All Other | 51,650 | $100,360 |
| General and Operations Managers | 50,630 | $133,750 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 49,450 | $46,190 |
| Office Clerks, General | 49,050 | $50,500 |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 47,380 | $45,520 |
Go deeper
The best-paid occupations, ranked.
Open →Pay floorWashington minimum wageThe state's hourly floor.
Open →PricesCost of living in WashingtonWhat a salary buys there.
Open →Between jobsWashington unemployment benefitsThe weekly maximum and weeks payable.
Open →Take-homeWashington paycheck calculatorPay after taxes, per paycheck.
Open →MetroAverage salary in SeattlePay in the metro area.
Open →CalculatorSalary to hourly calculatorConvert any salary or hourly rate.
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How this page is built
Every pay figure is a BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimate for all occupations in Washington (occupation code 00-0000), copied from BLS's data file; the job-group and occupation rows come from the same file. The average is BLS's mean wage (total wages divided by jobs); the median is the wage in the middle. OEWS wages are straight-time gross pay: they include commissions, tips, production bonuses and cost-of-living allowances, and leave out overtime premiums, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. BLS turns hourly wages into annual ones at 2,080 hours (40 hours for 52 weeks). Ranks, differences and shares are TryHired calculations from the BLS figures. Price levels are BEA Regional Price Parities.
- Household income: this page reports pay per job, not household or family income, which the Census Bureau measures differently.
- Starting pay: the figures include experienced workers. Entry-level pay is usually lower.
- Take-home pay: every figure is before taxes and deductions.
- Self-employment and farm work: not covered by OEWS (see the FAQ).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates: national, state and metropolitan-area data files (public domain).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS technical notes: what the survey counts as wages and jobs.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released Feb 19, 2026).