Clinical and Counseling Psychologists in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,483
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$21,037
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,996
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
$86,520
Kept after tax
$65,483
Worth in national money
$64,996
State rank
32
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays this job around $86,520 at the midpoint, 32 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Virginia this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 109 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $86,520, tax leaves $65,483, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $64,996 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $98,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- For clinical and counseling psychologists the Virginia median is $86,520, ranking 32 of 48 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Virginia publishes a median for, clinical and counseling psychologists sits 109 of 489 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for clinical and counseling psychologists — median $86,520 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $65,483 retained, $64,996 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $98,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $176,080 |
| This salary | $86,520 |
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 | $65,483 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,697 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,727 |
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 | $80,530 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,292 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $86,520 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,990 and the ninetieth is $176,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $65,483 take-home in Virginia comes from $86,520. 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 109 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $64,996 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 109.
- The Virginia median of $86,520 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,990 to $176,080. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $65,483, from $86,520, assumes a single 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 109 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 32 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $64,996, worked from $86,520, 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 109 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $98,460, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $41,990 at the bottom tenth to $176,080 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $64,996 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 $65,483 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 Virginia is $98,460. 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 ($41,990) and the ninetieth ($176,080) 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 $64,996 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 $65,483 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.
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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.