Brickmasons and Blockmasons in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,322
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$8,278
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,689
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
$46,600
Kept after tax
$38,322
Worth in national money
$42,689
State rank
48
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays brickmasons and blockmasons a middle wage of $46,600, 48 of 50 states and about 24.98% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in West Virginia, this sits in the middle: 278 of 473 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,600 the take-home is $38,322; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,689 would nationally. The average comes to $49,610, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- West Virginia's $46,600 median for brickmasons and blockmasons places it 48 of 50 states, about 24.98% 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.
- Brickmasons and blockmasons ranks 278 of 473 occupations in West Virginia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for brickmasons and blockmasons in West Virginia, on $46,600, is $38,322 — equivalent to $42,689 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 $49,610 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Brickmasons and Blockmasons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,600 |
| This salary | $46,600 |
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 | $38,322 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,623 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,914 |
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 | $44,981 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,314 |
| 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 $46,600. The published range is $30,750 up to $64,600, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,322 take-home in West Virginia comes from $46,600. 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 278 of 473.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,689 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 278.
- Reported values are medians; for brickmasons and blockmasons in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,750 to $64,600. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,322, from $46,600, 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 278 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,689, worked from $46,600, 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 278 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,610, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $30,750, the highest tenth $64,600, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $42,689.
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, $38,322 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $49,610. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($30,750) and the ninetieth ($64,600) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $42,689 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 $38,322 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.