- The middle half earn between $22.78 and $28.57 an hour.
- No state pays pest control technicians more at the median.
- Washington pays more than both neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 1,430 pest control technicians on payrolls in Washington.
- At the state median wage, a pest control company needs to bill about $113.90 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Pest Control Technician pay in Washington, bottom to top
The BLS group is pest control workers: the technicians who inspect, treat and set traps in homes and businesses.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $21.32 | $44,340 | $16.67 |
| 25th percentile | $22.78 | $47,390 | $18.00 |
| Median | $24.66 | $51,300 | $21.75 |
| 75th percentile | $28.57 | $59,420 | $23.85 |
| 90th percentile | $29.42 | $61,190 | $29.75 |
| Average (mean) | $25.59 | $53,220 | $22.31 |
Pay is bunched up in Washington. The top tenth earn $29.42 an hour or more, about 1.4 times the $21.32 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 1.8 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
The floor is higher than nationally ($21.32 against $16.67) but the ceiling is lower ($29.42 against $29.75), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average, $25.59, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Washington compares with other states
Over a full year, the Washington median of $51,300 is $6,050 more than the national $45,250.
No state pays more. The next highest is South Dakota at $24.00, and the lowest is New Mexico at $17.82.
Washington pays pest control technicians more than any of its neighboring states, Idaho and Oregon. Someone working near the border can earn more by taking work on this side of it.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Washington. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
How many pest control technicians work in Washington
About 1,430 pest control technicians work on payrolls in Washington, 1.4% of the 102,620 nationwide, the 21st largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 0.4 per 1,000 jobs, 0.61 times the national share.
What a pest control company in Washington should charge
Higher wages in Washington go straight into the price. Take a pest control company in Washington paying the state median of $24.66 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $24.66 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $55,217 |
| Break-even rate | ($55,217 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $96.81 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $96.81 ÷ 0.85 | $113.90 |
That is $113.90 per billable hour, 4.6 times the wage, and $5.11 more than the $108.78 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $28.57 in Washington, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $120.76.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $22.78, the rate only drops to $110.59.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a pest control technician in Washington
- Licensing. What Washington asks for before you can work on your own: Pest control license in Washington.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how pest control companies run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 37-2021, pest control workers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: pest control technician salary by state.