What Medical Assistants earn in Snohomish County, WA
The median pay for Medical Assistants in Snohomish County, WA is $61,500 per year, which works out to $29.57 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, the labor market that Snohomish County, WA 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 $62,210, which is 1.2% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 10,210 people working in this occupation across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Snohomish County, WA has roughly 844,430 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Medical Assistants in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $48,120 a year ($23.13 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $76,360 or more ($36.71 an hour). That is a gap of $28,240 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $54,900 at the 25th percentile and $68,850 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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: $29.57 an hour or $61,500 a year at the median for Snohomish County, WA. Before any deductions, that is $5,125 a month, $2,365 every two weeks and $1,183 each week. After taxes the same job pays $24.78 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Medical Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Medical Assistants this way: "Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height"; "Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician"; "Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records"; "Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician".
Job outlook for Medical Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 833,900 jobs in 2025 to 941,500 in 2035, a change of +12.9%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 109,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $45,690 for this occupation; the Snohomish County, WA median of $61,500 is 34.6% above it.
How pay in Snohomish County, WA compares
Compared with the Washington average
A worker in this occupation in Snohomish County, WA earns $4,096 more than the Washington average of $57,404, a premium of 7.1%. Over a year that premium is worth $4,096 before tax and roughly $3,433 after tax. Within Washington, Snohomish County, WA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Medical Assistants is $45,253 across the contiguous United States. At $61,500, Snohomish County, WA pays $16,247 more, which is 35.9% 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 Snohomish County, WA
Among the 612 occupations with published wages in Snohomish County, WA, Medical Assistants ranks number 410 by median pay, ahead of about 33% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $214,680 a year, which is $153,180 more than the median for Medical 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 Medical Assistants earning the Snohomish County, WA median of $61,500, they add up to $9,956. The result is $51,544 of take-home pay a year ($4,295 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $45,750. 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 $5,252, an effective 8.5% 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 $3,813 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $892. FICA totals $4,705, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Washington
Washington does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Medical Assistants in Snohomish County, WA is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $3,075 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $256 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Snohomish County, WA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Snohomish County, WA show an average adjusted gross income of $114,573 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.4% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.7%, compared with the 8.5% 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 Snohomish County, WA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Snohomish County, WA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $51,544 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Snohomish County, WA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,180 a month ($26,160 a year), and at $2,549 for two bedrooms. For Medical Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 50.8% of take-home pay and 42.5% 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 5.6% of gross pay for Medical Assistants in Snohomish County, WA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Washington residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,257 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $475, for $1,732 in total. Gasoline in Washington averages $4.07 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,883.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $33,210 a year in Snohomish County, WA. Subtract that from $51,544 of take-home pay and $18,333 remains, which is $1,528 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 29.8% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Snohomish County, WA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Snohomish County, WA: 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 Snohomish County, WA, set beside the Washington and national medians.
Property taxes in Snohomish County, WA
Homeowners in Snohomish County, WA pay a median of $5,364 a year in real estate taxes, 18% above the Washington median of $4,556 and 72% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $696,000, the median tax bill is 0.77% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Medical Assistants median of $61,500, a tax bill of that size would equal 8.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Snohomish County, WA
Renters in Snohomish County, WA pay a median gross rent of $1,949 a month in the Census survey, 11% above the Washington median of $1,760. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,180 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 $696,000, 23% above the Washington median of $564,600. Median household income is $111,246, 13% above the Washington median of $98,141, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.5% of that income.
Commuting in Snohomish County, WA
Workers in Snohomish County, WA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 30.8 minutes each way, 16% above the Washington average of 26.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.1 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 20.0% of workers in Snohomish County, WA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Medical Assistants afford to live in Snohomish County, WA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $61,500 that ceiling is $1,538 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,180 is $643 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $41.92 an hour; the median for Medical Assistants is $29.57, which is 29% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.78 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 20.3 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,549 a month means $1,275 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $10,866 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $29,199.
How fast you can save
At $1,528 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 7 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 14 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Medical Assistants pay in Snohomish County, WA
How much do Medical Assistants make per hour in Snohomish County, WA?
The median is $29.57 per hour, based on $61,500 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $23.13 at the 10th percentile to $36.71 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Medical Assistants take home after taxes in Snohomish County, WA?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $61,500 becomes $51,544 a year. That is $4,295 a month, $1,982 every two weeks or $991 a week.
How much tax do Medical Assistants pay in Snohomish County, WA?
Total taxes are $9,956 a year, an effective rate of 16.2%: $5,252 federal income tax, $4,705 FICA and no Washington income tax.
Do Medical Assistants earn more in Snohomish County, WA than elsewhere in Washington?
Yes. The local median of $61,500 is +7.1% versus the Washington average of $57,404, a difference of $4,096 a year.
Can Medical Assistants afford a one-bedroom apartment in Snohomish County, WA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,180 a month against take-home pay of $4,295, which is 50.8% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,538 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Medical Assistants in Snohomish County, WA?
About $1,528 a month ($18,333 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $33,210 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Snohomish County, WA at the 30% guideline?
$41.92 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,160 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Medical Assistants is $29.57.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 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 Washington 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.