Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,915
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$15,365
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,514
West Virginia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in West Virginia — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$73,280
Kept after tax
$57,915
Worth in national money
$64,514
State rank
31
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. West Virginia pays this job around $73,280 at the midpoint, 31 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in West Virginia. It ranks 108 out of 473 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $73,280 you keep $57,915 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $64,514 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $73,830, since top earners drag the number up.
- For art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary the West Virginia median is $73,280, ranking 31 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within West Virginia, art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary ranks 108 of 473 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $57,915 after the full tax stack, from $73,280. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $64,514 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $73,830 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,250 |
| This salary | $73,280 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in West Virginia | $57,915 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,382 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,376 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $69,773 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,282 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in West Virginia earn less than $73,280. The published range is $51,280 up to $99,250, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $57,915 take-home in West Virginia comes from $73,280. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 108 of 473.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $64,514 uses one figure for the whole of West Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 473 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 108.
- Reported values are medians; for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,280 to $99,250. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $57,915, from $73,280, assumes a single West Virginia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 108 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $64,514, worked from $73,280, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular West Virginia address, on work sitting at 108 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $51,280 and the top tenth $99,250, so most people doing this work in West Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in West Virginia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $64,514 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; West Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $57,915.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($51,280 to $99,250) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to West Virginia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
West Virginia's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $64,514 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $57,915 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and West Virginia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.