Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,210
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$4,050
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,968
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
$28,260
Kept after tax
$24,210
Worth in national money
$26,968
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays this job a middle wage of $28,260, 51 of 51 states and about 20.77% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within West Virginia this is lower-paid work. Of 473 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 455. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $28,260 the take-home is $24,210; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $26,968 would nationally. The average comes to $29,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- West Virginia's $28,260 median for automotive and watercraft service attendants places it 51 of 51 states, about 20.77% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation West Virginia reports, automotive and watercraft service attendants ranks 455 of 473, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for automotive and watercraft service attendants in West Virginia, on $28,260, is $24,210 — equivalent to $26,968 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $29,310 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,240 |
| This salary | $28,260 |
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 | $24,210 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,882 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,363 |
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 | $27,444 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,642 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $28,260 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,300 and the ninetieth is $36,240 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $24,210, from $28,260, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 455 of 473 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $26,968, the adjusted value of that $28,260 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of West Virginia. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 455 of 473 locally.
- The West Virginia median of $28,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,300 to $36,240. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for West Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $24,210 from $28,260. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 455 of 473 locally.
- This $26,968 adjusted figure, worked from $28,260, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 455 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 455 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $29,310 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $23,300 at the bottom tenth to $36,240 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $26,968.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and West Virginia's own levy, $24,210 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in West Virginia is $29,310. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($23,300 to $36,240) 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 $26,968 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 $24,210 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.