Chemical Technicians in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,572
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$11,178
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,992
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
$58,750
Kept after tax
$47,572
Worth in national money
$52,992
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. West Virginia is 28 of 51 states for chemical technicians, with a middle wage of $58,750. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in West Virginia, this sits in the middle: 177 of 473 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $58,750 you keep $47,572 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $52,992 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia ranks 28 of 51 for chemical technicians at $58,750. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Chemical technicians ranks 177 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.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $47,572 after the full tax stack, from $58,750. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $52,992 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Chemical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,810 |
| This salary | $58,750 |
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 | $47,572 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,386 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,171 |
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 | $56,493 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,626 |
| 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 $58,750. The published range is $40,570 up to $81,810, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $47,572, from $58,750, 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 177 of 473 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $52,992, the adjusted value of that $58,750 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 177 of 473 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for chemical technicians in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,570 to $81,810. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for West Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,572 from $58,750. 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 177 of 473 locally.
- This $52,992 adjusted figure, worked from $58,750, 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 177 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 177 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 $61,190 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 $40,570 at the bottom tenth to $81,810 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in West Virginia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $52,992 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $47,572 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 $61,190. 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 ($40,570 to $81,810) 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 $52,992 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 $47,572 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.