What Nursing Assistants earn in Arlington County, VA
The median pay for Nursing Assistants in Arlington County, VA is $45,730 per year, which works out to $21.99 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, the labor market that Arlington County, VA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $45,130, which is 1.3% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 25,520 people working in this occupation across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Arlington County, VA has roughly 236,254 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Nursing Assistants in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $36,060 a year ($17.34 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $55,390 or more ($26.63 an hour). That is a gap of $19,330 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $39,020 at the 25th percentile and $48,980 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.5 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $21.99 an hour or $45,730 a year at the median for Arlington County, VA. Before any deductions, that is $3,811 a month, $1,759 every two weeks and $879 each week. After taxes the same job pays $17.81 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Nursing Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Nursing Assistants this way: "Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs"; "Assist nurses or physicians in the operation of medical equipment or provision of patient care"; "Change bed linens or make beds"; "Clean and sanitize patient rooms, bathrooms, examination rooms, or other patient areas".
Job outlook for Nursing Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,505,900 jobs in 2025 to 1,544,900 in 2035, a change of +2.6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 196,200 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $42,260 for this occupation; the Arlington County, VA median of $45,730 is 8.2% above it.
How pay in Arlington County, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
A worker in this occupation in Arlington County, VA earns $2,631 more than the Virginia average of $43,099, a premium of 6.1%. Over a year that premium is worth $2,631 before tax and roughly $2,131 after tax. Within Virginia, Arlington County, VA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Nursing Assistants is $41,828 across the contiguous United States. At $45,730, Arlington County, VA pays $3,902 more, which is 9.3% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Arlington County, VA
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Arlington County, VA, Nursing Assistants ranks number 527 by median pay, ahead of about 15% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $195,190 a year, which is $149,460 more than the median for Nursing Assistants.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Nursing Assistants earning the Arlington County, VA median of $45,730, they add up to $8,687. The result is $37,043 of take-home pay a year ($3,087 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $29,980. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $3,359, an effective 7.3% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,835 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $663. FICA totals $3,498, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $1,830 a year, or 4.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 54% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $152 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Arlington County, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Arlington County, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $159,169 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 19.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.1%, compared with the 7.3% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Arlington County, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Arlington County, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $37,043 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Arlington County, VA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,204 a month ($26,448 a year), and at $2,438 for two bedrooms. For Nursing Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 71.4% of take-home pay and 57.8% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 7.5% of gross pay for Nursing Assistants in Arlington County, VA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Virginia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,523 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $597, for $2,119 in total. Gasoline in Virginia averages $3.09 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,429.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $33,432 a year in Arlington County, VA. Subtract that from $37,043 of take-home pay and $3,611 remains, which is $301 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 7.9% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Arlington County, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Arlington County, VA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Arlington County, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Arlington County, VA
Homeowners in Arlington County, VA pay a median of $8,153 a year in real estate taxes, 192% above the Virginia median of $2,790 and 161% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $895,000, the median tax bill is 0.91% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Nursing Assistants median of $45,730, a tax bill of that size would equal 17.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Arlington County, VA
Renters in Arlington County, VA pay a median gross rent of $2,322 a month in the Census survey, 47% above the Virginia median of $1,579. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,204 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $895,000, 133% above the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $142,114, 53% above the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.6% of that income.
Commuting in Arlington County, VA
Workers in Arlington County, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.2 minutes each way, 4% below the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 35.3% of workers in Arlington County, VA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Nursing Assistants afford to live in Arlington County, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $45,730 that ceiling is $1,143 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,204 is $1,061 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $42.38 an hour; the median for Nursing Assistants is $21.99, which is 48% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $17.81 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 28.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,438 a month means $1,219 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $11,820 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $15,431.
How fast you can save
At $301 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 34 months (2.8 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 68 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Nursing Assistants pay in Arlington County, VA
How much do Nursing Assistants make per hour in Arlington County, VA?
The median is $21.99 per hour, based on $45,730 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.34 at the 10th percentile to $26.63 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Nursing Assistants take home after taxes in Arlington County, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $45,730 becomes $37,043 a year. That is $3,087 a month, $1,425 every two weeks or $712 a week.
How much tax do Nursing Assistants pay in Arlington County, VA?
Total taxes are $8,687 a year, an effective rate of 19.0%: $3,359 federal income tax, $3,498 FICA and $1,830 Virginia income tax.
Do Nursing Assistants earn more in Arlington County, VA than elsewhere in Virginia?
Yes. The local median of $45,730 is +6.1% versus the Virginia average of $43,099, a difference of $2,631 a year.
Can Nursing Assistants afford a one-bedroom apartment in Arlington County, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,204 a month against take-home pay of $3,087, which is 71.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,143 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Nursing Assistants in Arlington County, VA?
About $301 a month ($3,611 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $33,432 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Arlington County, VA at the 30% guideline?
$42.38 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,448 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Nursing Assistants is $21.99.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Virginia rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.