Washington · BLS May 2025

How much does an auto mechanic make in Washington?

Also called automotive technician, car mechanic. SOC 49-3023.

An auto mechanic in Washington earns a median of $57,270 a year ($27.54 an hour), about $4,016 a month after federal and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 12,930 of these jobs in Washington in May 2025.

Median pay · Washington

$57,270A year, or $28 an hour.
Take-home a month$4,016After federal and FICA tax at 15.8%
Worth at national prices$53,517Prices here sit at 107 against 100
Against the nation13.1% aboveNational median $50,620
What automotive service technicians and mechanics earn in Washington, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$39,470$19
25th percentile$45,740$22
MedianHalf earn more, half less$57,270$28
75th percentile$76,960$37
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$95,620$46
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$62,460$30

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in WashingtonBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$57,270
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$27.54
  3. Take-home after federal and FICA tax$4,016 a month at an effective rate of 15.8%.$48,196 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Washington sit at 107 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$53,517
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $50,620.13.1% above
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 0.8 against the nation's 1.00.12,930
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $57,270 in Washington, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$57,270
$35,000$100,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$57,270
Net 84%
Fed 8%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$48,196After all taxes
Monthly deposit$4,016Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,854Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate15.8%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$4,692 / yr
Washington state income taxNo state wage tax$0
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$4,381 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $57,270 is worth in Washington

Prices in Washington sit at 107 against a national average of 100, so $57,270 earned here buys what $53,517 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 126 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Washington takes in $98,141, so this occupation's median is 0.58 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 20% less concentrated in Washington than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for auto mechanics in Washington

Washington does not tax wages, so the take-home figure above loses only federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare.

Rents in Washington index at 126 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 107, a gap of +19 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

The median for this job is 0.6 times the median household income in Washington ($98,141). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.

Common questions

Auto Mechanic pay in Washington, answered

How much does an auto mechanic make in Washington?

The median wage for auto mechanics in Washington is $57,270 a year, or $27.54 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average auto mechanic salary in Washington?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for auto mechanics in Washington is $62,460 a year. The median is $57,270.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for an auto mechanic in Washington?

The median hourly wage is $27.54. At a full-time year that lines up with about $57,270 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for an auto mechanic in Washington?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Washington, the lowest-paid 10% of auto mechanics earn under $39,470 a year and a quarter earn under $45,740 ($18.98 and $21.99 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for an auto mechanic in Washington?

The overall salary range for auto mechanics in Washington spans from $39,470 for the bottom 10% to $95,620 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $45,740 and $76,960 a year, with the overall median at $57,270.

What is the take-home pay for an auto mechanic in Washington?

On the median wage of $57,270, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $48,196 a year, or roughly $4,016 a month.

That is after federal and FICA tax, an effective rate of 15.8%.

Washington levies no state income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld for it.

How much does an auto mechanic make a month in Washington?

On the median annual salary of $57,270, estimated take-home pay is roughly $4,016 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,854 net.

Do auto mechanics earn more in Washington than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in Washington is 13.1% above the national median of $50,620.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Washington sit at 107 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $57,270 a good salary in Washington?

It is 0.58 times the median household income of $98,141. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Washington run at 107 against a national average of 100, with rents at 126, so $57,270 here buys about what $53,517 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid auto mechanics earn in Washington?

The top tenth earn $95,620 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $39,470.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Washington someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many auto mechanics are there in Washington?

The survey counted 12,930 of these jobs in Washington for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 20% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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