Budget Analysts in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,724
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$27,746
26.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,146
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in 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
$105,470
Kept after tax
$77,724
Worth in national money
$77,146
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for budget analysts. The middle earner takes $105,470, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 15.09% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Virginia. It ranks 63 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $105,470, take-home of $77,724 is worth roughly $77,146 in national money. The average comes to $112,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Virginia ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for budget analysts, at $105,470 — about 15.09% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Virginia, budget analysts ranks 63 of 489 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.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for budget analysts, whose median is $105,470, the adjusted figure of $77,146 differs little from $77,724 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $112,310 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Budget Analysts
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $70,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $105,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $156,750 |
| This salary | $105,470 |
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 Virginia | $77,724 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,028 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,295 |
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 | $97,931 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,459 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of budget analysts in Virginia earn under $105,470 and half over. The published range runs $70,610 at the tenth percentile to $156,750 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $77,724, worked from $105,470. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 63 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $77,146, the adjusted value of that $105,470 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 63 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for budget analysts in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $70,610 to $156,750; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Virginia take-home of $77,724, on $105,470 for work ranking 63 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 63 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $77,146 — the adjusted value of that $105,470 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 63 of 489 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 $112,310 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $70,610, the highest tenth $156,750, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $77,146 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $77,724 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Virginia is $112,310. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($70,610) and the ninetieth ($156,750) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $77,146 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $77,724 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and 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.