Career premiums vs. maximum benefit by wage

What this dataset measures

Built to test the claim that many Washington workers will pay more into WA Cares than its maximum benefit is worth. The premium rate, wage base and benefit cap come from the statute (RCW 50B.04); the wage growth, benefit indexing and investment return assumptions come from the actuarial valuation the state relies on, so the comparison uses the program's own numbers.

Geography

Washington, United States

Unit of observation

A hypothetical worker at a given career-average wage (table career-premiums-by-wage); an assumption scenario (break-even-scenarios); a point of the wage distribution (wa-wage-distribution-outcomes); a program rule (program-parameters).

Update cadence

Revise when the premium rate, benefit amount or actuarial assumptions change.

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

Career premiums vs. maximum benefit by wage

For a worker who pays WA Cares premiums for 40 years (ages 25 to 64, starting 2026) at a constant career-average wage in 2026 dollars, the total and present value of premiums compared with the $36,500 maximum benefit and its present value if used at 85.

Unit of observation: Hypothetical worker at one career-average wage

career-premiums-by-wage.csv text/csv · 1.4 KB (1,417 bytes)

All 29 rows 8 columns Download the file

All 29 rows

career_average_wage USD (2026)	career_years years	total_premiums USD (2026)	pv_premiums_at_4pct USD (2026)	max_benefit USD (2026)	pv_max_benefit_at_85 USD (2026)	benefit_to_premium_ratio ratio	pv_benefit_to_pv_premium_ratio ratio
20000	40	4640	3485	36500	14398	7.87	4.13
30000	40	6960	5227	36500	14398	5.24	2.75
40000	40	9280	6969	36500	14398	3.93	2.07
50000	40	11600	8711	36500	14398	3.15	1.65
60000	40	13920	10454	36500	14398	2.62	1.38
70000	40	16240	12196	36500	14398	2.25	1.18
80000	40	18560	13938	36500	14398	1.97	1.03
90000	40	20880	15681	36500	14398	1.75	0.92
100000	40	23200	17423	36500	14398	1.57	0.83
110000	40	25520	19165	36500	14398	1.43	0.75
120000	40	27840	20907	36500	14398	1.31	0.69
130000	40	30160	22650	36500	14398	1.21	0.64
140000	40	32480	24392	36500	14398	1.12	0.59
150000	40	34800	26134	36500	14398	1.05	0.55
160000	40	37120	27877	36500	14398	0.98	0.52
170000	40	39440	29619	36500	14398	0.93	0.49
180000	40	41760	31361	36500	14398	0.87	0.46
190000	40	44080	33103	36500	14398	0.83	0.43
200000	40	46400	34846	36500	14398	0.79	0.41
210000	40	48720	36588	36500	14398	0.75	0.39
220000	40	51040	38330	36500	14398	0.72	0.38
230000	40	53360	40073	36500	14398	0.68	0.36
240000	40	55680	41815	36500	14398	0.66	0.34
250000	40	58000	43557	36500	14398	0.63	0.33
260000	40	60320	45300	36500	14398	0.61	0.32
270000	40	62640	47042	36500	14398	0.58	0.31
280000	40	64960	48784	36500	14398	0.56	0.3
290000	40	67280	50526	36500	14398	0.54	0.28
300000	40	69600	52269	36500	14398	0.52	0.28

8 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
career_average_wage	integer	Career-average annual wage in 2026 dollars.	USD (2026)	estimated
career_years	integer	Years of premiums.	years	estimated
total_premiums	integer	Sum of premiums over the career in 2026 dollars (inflation-adjusted, not discounted).	USD (2026)	derived
pv_premiums_at_4pct	integer	Present value in 2026 of the premiums, discounted at the fund's 4.0% nominal return (1.5625% after the 2.4% indexing rate).	USD (2026)	derived
max_benefit	integer	Maximum lifetime benefit, 365 benefit units of $100, in 2026 dollars.	USD (2026)	observed
pv_max_benefit_at_85	integer	Present value in 2026 of the full benefit used 60 years later, at age 85.	USD (2026)	derived
benefit_to_premium_ratio	number	Maximum benefit divided by total premiums; below 1 means premiums exceed the benefit.	ratio	derived
pv_benefit_to_pv_premium_ratio	number	Present value of the benefit divided by present value of premiums.	ratio	derived

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• results.json Derived table · application/json · 28 KB (28,648 bytes)

  Every table and the chart rows as JSON, with the assumptions used; the saved analyses read from this file.

• build.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 8.6 KB (8,835 bytes)

  Node.js script that computes every table and result from the stated constants.

Sources

1. Washington State Legislature Premium rate and wage base (RCW 50B.04.080, 50B.04.010), benefit unit and lifetime limit (50B.04.010, 50B.04.060), vesting (50B.04.050), portability (50B.04.180) and exemptions (50B.04.053, .055, .085).

   Retrieved October 19, 2026. Public record (Revised Code of Washington). Statute text is public; linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. The current codified statute governing WA Cares, including 2024 and 2025 amendments. The Legislature that created the program maintains it.

2. Milliman, for the Washington Office of the State Actuary Economic assumptions: ultimate wage growth 3.55% and benefit indexing 2.4%; program features modeled; required premium 0.48% to 0.65%.

   Retrieved October 19, 2026. Public record (Washington state report). Linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Has a stake in this finding. Actuarial valuation commissioned by the Office of the State Actuary, which is responsible for the fund's solvency analysis. Milliman is a private actuarial firm under contract; the report states its assumptions and sensitivities.

3. Washington Office of the State Actuary Net investment earned rate (4.4% grading to 4.0%), base-scenario actuarial balance, premium recommendation, and the 2025 law fixing benefit indexing to inflation.

   Retrieved October 19, 2026. Public record (Washington state report). Linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Has a stake in this finding. The state actuary's June 2025 summary of the Milliman valuation and its recommendations to the Pension Funding Council. The office advises on keeping the program solvent.

4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Washington all-occupation annual wages, May 2025: 10th percentile $38,670; 25th $47,020; median $62,990; mean $83,330; 75th $101,710; 90th $153,630; employment 3,550,970 (series OEUS5300000000000000000{01,04,11,12,13,14,15}).

   Retrieved October 19, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Free to redistribute with attribution to BLS.

   Reliability: Government. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, a federal survey of employers. Wages are straight-time gross pay and exclude overtime and nonproduction bonuses.

5. Washington State Employment Security Department Count of approved private-insurance exemptions (480,366 as of Dec. 29, 2022).

   Retrieved October 19, 2026. Public record. Linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. ESD administers WA Cares premium collection and exemptions and reports its own application counts.

6. Washington State Legislature Final bill report for SHB 1732 (2022): 18-month delay of premiums to July 1, 2023 and partial benefits for people born before 1968.

   Retrieved October 19, 2026. Public record. Linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Nonpartisan legislative staff summary of the bill as enacted.

Limitations and reproducibility

Fully reproducible: build.js (Node.js, no dependencies) regenerates every table and saved-analysis result from the constants it states. Each constant is taken from a cited source: the 0.58% rate and $36,500 cap from RCW 50B.04; 3.55% wage growth, 2.4% benefit indexing and the 4.0% ultimate net investment earned rate from Milliman's 2024 actuarial valuation and the Office of the State Actuary's summary of it; wage percentiles from BLS OEWS May 2025.

• These are projections for hypothetical workers, not records of what any person has paid. Premiums began July 1, 2023, so no one has yet paid for a full career.
• All dollars are in 2026 dollars, deflated by the 2.4% a year at which the actuary assumes the benefit will be indexed. If the benefit is indexed by more or less than wages grow, the comparison shifts accordingly.
• The maximum benefit is the most a person can receive, not what a typical person receives. About half of people who reach 65 never receive paid long-term care, and their benefit is worth nothing to them in cash terms; others use only part of it.
• The present-value comparison assumes the whole benefit is used in one year at age 85 (alternatives at 75 and 80 are in break-even-scenarios) and discounts at the fund's own assumed 4.0% return. A lower discount rate raises the present-value break-even wage; a higher one lowers it.
• Career-average wages are compared with a cross-section of 2025 wages (BLS OEWS), which spans young and old workers in one year. Career averages are less spread out than one year's wages, so the share of workers above a break-even wage is approximate.
• BLS OEWS wages exclude overtime and nonproduction bonuses, while WA Cares charges premiums on all wages, so OEWS understates the taxable wages of some workers.
• The premium rate is 0.58% under current law. From 2026 the Pension Funding Council may lower it, though not raise it without legislation; after voters approved investing the fund in stocks in 2025, a lower rate is possible.
• The model ignores taxes: premiums are paid from after-tax wages, and the tax treatment of benefits is not modeled.