Washington state government salary

Washington Salaries

Total state expenditures: $34.3 billion (2014 estimate)

Washington state government salaries are available through newspapers such as The Olympian and The News Tribune. The Office of the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee and Office of Financial Management collaborated in 2008 to create the Washington State Fiscal Information website, which aggregates state spending information.

The Washington Office of Financial Management posts on its webpage the Personnel Detail Report, which provides salary and other employment information for each employee in all state agencies. The data from the 2011 Personnel Data Report, which covers the 2010 calendar year, is searchable by name, agency or function area.

The state cut state employees' pay by 3 percent as of July 1, 2011. Employee salary and benefits for general government and higher education employees accounted for 20.5% of the state budget in 2002 and 18.2% in 2011. K-12 public-school-employment costs were not included in the calculations.

Among general-government employees, more than 1,350 earned more than $100,000. The top earner in the group was Gary Bruebaker, chief investment officer at the Washington State Investment Board. His gross pay was $303,581.79, and he was the 56th highest paid of all state government employees.

According to 2008 U.S. Census data, the state of Washington and local governments in the state employed a total of 427,078 people. Of those employees, 287,439 were full-time employees receiving net pay of $1,403,475,485 per month and 139,639 were part-time employees paid $212,257,148 per month. More than 49% of those employees, or 212,659 employees, were in education or higher education.

Legislator salaries

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

State legislative salaries, 2024
Salary	Per diem
$60,191/year for senators. $61,997/year for representatives.	$202/day

State executive salaries

See also: Compensation of state executive officers

Office and current official	Salary
Governor of Washington Bob Ferguson	$198,257
Lieutenant Governor of Washington Denny Heck	$124,127
Attorney General of Washington Nick Brown	$187,543
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs	$145,714
Chief of Staff to the Governor of Washington Shane Esquibel
Washington Commissioner of Insurance Patricia Kuderer	$145,714
Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy	$145,714
Washington Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti	$162,555
Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal	$161,905

As of 2008, the salary of Washington's governor ranked 7th among U.S. governors' salaries. The average salary earned by U.S. governors was $128,735. The median salary earned by U.S. governors was $129,962. In a 2011 list of state employees ranked by salary, the governor was the 956th highest-paid state employee.

Judicial salaries

See also: State court budgets and judicial salaries

Associate Justices
$$262,011

As of 2010, the salary of Washington's chief justice ranked 18th among U.S. chief justices' salaries. The average salary earned by U.S. chief justices was $155,230. The median salary earned by U.S. chief justices was $151,284.

As of 2010, the salaries of Washington's associate justices ranked 15th among U.S. associate justices' salaries. The average salary earned by U.S. associate justices was $151,142. The median salary earned by U.S. associate justices was $145,984.

State profile

Demographic data for Washington
	Washington	U.S.
Total population:	7,160,290	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	66,456	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	77.8%	73.6%
Black/African American:	3.6%	12.6%
Asian:	7.7%	5.1%
Native American:	1.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more:	5.2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	12%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	90.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	32.9%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$61,062	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	14.4%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Washington. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Washington

Washington voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, five are located in Washington, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Washington had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 2.21 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Washington coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Washington
• United States congressional delegations from Washington
• Public policy in Washington
• Endorsers in Washington
• Washington fact checks
• More...

External links

• Washington State Employment Opportunities
• State Budget Solutions, Washington