Radiologic Technologist Salary in Washington 2026,
$102,090 Median | BLS Data by City

Washington radiologic technologists earn a median $102,090 a year, $49.08 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $81,880 and $121,560 and a full range of $66,570 to $132,060. That is 27.4% above the $80,110 national median, one of the largest state premiums in allied health, and Washington takes no state income tax out of it.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue at $105,200, then Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard at $102,290, Mount Vernon-Anacortes at $101,970, Kennewick-Richland at $96,830 and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater at $95,290. The top three all clear a hundred thousand dollars, and under ten thousand separates the whole table.

Yes — a state credential, not just a national registry. The Washington State Department of Health credentials radiologic technologists, with qualification through an approved education route and examination, and it also issues limited-scope X-ray technician credentials for restricted anatomical areas. Employers additionally expect ARRT registration, and advanced modality registries in CT, MRI, mammography or interventional imaging for those roles.

Thin supply meeting concentrated demand. Washington's location quotient of 0.79 means it employs fewer radiologic technologists per worker than the country does, while the state hosts substantial tertiary, trauma and cancer-centre imaging volume plus a large outpatient imaging sector. Health systems bidding for a limited pool of credentialled technologists is what produces a $102,090 median.

Enough to explain most of the distance above the median. Evening, night, weekend and call-back pay are standard in Washington imaging departments, and because the state takes no income tax, every extra shift is worth more here than the same shift in Oregon or California. A technologist working a night-weighted rotation with call, holding an advanced registry, is how the state 75th percentile of $121,560 and beyond is reached.

The combination of below-average technologist density and above-average imaging complexity. Washington's health systems serve a wide regional catchment for tertiary and trauma care, which generates continuous CT and interventional volume that cannot be deferred, while the state's technologist workforce has not grown proportionally. When the imaging cannot wait and the technologists are scarce, price moves — and $102,090 is the result.

It is an annual wage that bundles base pay with a large and variable differential component. Two Washington technologists on the same posted hourly rate can be many thousands apart depending on shift pattern and call frequency, so the $49.08 hourly figure is the more comparable of the two numbers when weighing offers. The state figure also blends general radiography with advanced modality work, which are different pay markets.

Advanced modality registries, in this order of impact: CT first because it is the highest-volume advanced modality, then MRI, then interventional and cardiac catheterisation lab work, which carries the heaviest call and the highest pay. Each is an ARRT post-primary pathway rather than a state credential, and each is what carries a Washington technologist from the median of $102,090 to the $121,560 seventy-fifth percentile and the $132,060 ninetieth.