Carpenters in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,485
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$11,205
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,155
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
$55,690
Kept after tax
$44,485
Worth in national money
$44,155
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays carpenters around $55,690 at the midpoint, 34 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Carpenters ranks 275 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $55,690, tax leaves $44,485, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $44,155 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $55,390.
- For carpenters the Virginia median is $55,690, ranking 34 of 51 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.
- Position 275 of 489 in Virginia places carpenters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for carpenters — median $55,690 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $44,485 retained, $44,155 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $55,390 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Carpenters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,250 |
| This salary | $55,690 |
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 | $44,485 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,927 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,136 |
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 | $52,651 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,003 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $55,690 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,230 and the ninetieth is $74,250 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $44,485, from $55,690, 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 275 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,155 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 275.
- The Virginia median of $55,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,230 to $74,250. 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 Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $44,485 from $55,690. 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 275 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,155, worked from $55,690, 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 Virginia address, on work sitting at 275 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $38,230 and the top tenth $74,250, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $44,155 rather than its face figure.
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 $44,485 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,230 to $74,250) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
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 $44,155 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 $44,485 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.