What Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn in Spokane County, WA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA metropolitan area, the median pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Spokane County, WA is $47,410 a year, or $22.79 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $40,222 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Spokane County, WA.
The mean wage is $47,030, which is 0.8% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 10,580 people working in this occupation across the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Spokane County, WA has roughly 549,056 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $38,670 a year ($18.59 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $48,630 or more ($23.38 an hour). That is a gap of $9,960 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $42,810 at the 25th percentile and $48,630 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.3 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: $22.79 an hour or $47,410 a year at the median for Spokane County, WA. Before any deductions, that is $3,951 a month, $1,823 every two weeks and $912 each week. After taxes the same job pays $19.34 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Spokane County, WA compares
Compared with the Washington average
Pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Spokane County, WA is in line with the statewide figure: $47,410 locally against an employment-weighted Washington average of $47,060, a difference of only $350 (0.7%). Within Washington, the highest median we track for this job is $48,210 in King County, WA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $34,899 across the contiguous United States. At $47,410, Spokane County, WA pays $12,512 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 Spokane County, WA
Among the 425 occupations with published wages in Spokane County, WA, Home Health and Personal Care Aides ranks number 331 by median pay, ahead of about 22% of them.
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 Home Health and Personal Care Aides earning the Spokane County, WA median of $47,410, they add up to $7,188. The result is $40,222 of take-home pay a year ($3,352 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $31,660. 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 $3,561, an effective 7.5% 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 $2,939 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $687. FICA totals $3,627, 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 Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Spokane 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 $2,371 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $198 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Spokane County, WA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Spokane County, WA show an average adjusted gross income of $87,454 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.8% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.2%, compared with the 7.5% 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 Spokane County, WA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Spokane County, WA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $40,222 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Spokane County, WA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,173 a month ($14,076 a year), and at $1,494 for two bedrooms. For Home Health and Personal Care Aides, a one-bedroom absorbs 35.0% of take-home pay and 29.7% 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 7.2% of gross pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Spokane 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 $21,126 a year in Spokane County, WA. Subtract that from $40,222 of take-home pay and $19,096 remains, which is $1,591 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 40.3% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford to live in Spokane 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 $47,410 that ceiling is $1,185 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,173 is $12 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.56 an hour; the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $22.79, which is 1% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $19.34 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 14.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,494 a month means $747 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,112 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $24,208.
How fast you can save
At $1,591 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 Home Health and Personal Care Aides pay in Spokane County, WA
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides make per hour in Spokane County, WA?
The median is $22.79 per hour, based on $47,410 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $18.59 at the 10th percentile to $23.38 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides take home after taxes in Spokane County, WA?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $47,410 becomes $40,222 a year. That is $3,352 a month, $1,547 every two weeks or $774 a week.
How much tax do Home Health and Personal Care Aides pay in Spokane County, WA?
Total taxes are $7,188 a year, an effective rate of 15.2%: $3,561 federal income tax, $3,627 FICA and no Washington income tax.
Do Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn more in Spokane County, WA than elsewhere in Washington?
It is about the same. The local median of $47,410 is within 0.7% of the Washington average of $47,060.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford a one-bedroom apartment in Spokane County, WA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,173 a month against take-home pay of $3,352, which is 35.0% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,185 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Spokane County, WA?
About $1,591 a month ($19,096 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,126 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Spokane County, WA at the 30% guideline?
$22.56 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,076 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $22.79.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Spokane-Spokane Valley, 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.