Chefs and Head Cooks in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,361
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$11,739
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,985
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
$61,100
Kept after tax
$49,361
Worth in national money
$54,985
State rank
30
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. West Virginia is 30 of 51 states for chefs and head cooks, with a middle wage of $61,100. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Chefs and head cooks ranks 163 among 473 occupations West Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,100 you keep $49,361 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,985 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $64,600, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia ranks 30 of 51 for chefs and head cooks at $61,100. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 163 of 473 in West Virginia places chefs and head cooks 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.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $49,361 after the full tax stack, from $61,100. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,985 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $64,600 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Chefs and Head Cooks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,690 |
| This salary | $61,100 |
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 | $49,361 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,274 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,221 |
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 | $58,720 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,686 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,100 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,520 and the ninetieth is $88,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind West Virginia's $49,361, worked from $61,100. 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 163 of 473.
- One number stands for prices across all of West Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,985, the adjusted value of that $61,100 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 163 of 473 in the state.
- The West Virginia median of $61,100 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,520 to $88,690. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The West Virginia take-home of $49,361, on $61,100 for work ranking 163 of 473 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 163 of 473 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for West Virginia, so $54,985 — the adjusted value of that $61,100 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 163 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 $64,600 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $40,520 and the top tenth $88,690 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $54,985.
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, $49,361 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 $64,600. 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 ($40,520) and the ninetieth ($88,690) 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 $54,985 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 $49,361 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.