Clinical and Counseling Psychologists in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,388
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$16,652
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,269
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
$77,040
Kept after tax
$60,388
Worth in national money
$67,269
State rank
42
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays this job a middle wage of $77,040, 42 of 48 states and about 23.4% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 473 occupations West Virginia reports, this job comes in at 89 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $77,040 you keep $60,388 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,269 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $90,120, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia's $77,040 median for clinical and counseling psychologists places it 42 of 48 states, about 23.4% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Clinical and counseling psychologists ranks 89 of 473 occupations by median in West Virginia, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $60,388 after the full tax stack, from $77,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,269 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $90,120 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $146,240 |
| This salary | $77,040 |
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 | $60,388 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,028 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,409 |
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 | $73,288 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,327 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 clinical and counseling psychologists in West Virginia earn under $77,040 and half over. The published range runs $44,100 at the tenth percentile to $146,240 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $60,388 take-home in West Virginia comes from $77,040. 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 89 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 $67,269, the adjusted value of that $77,040 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 89 of 473 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for clinical and counseling psychologists in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $44,100 to $146,240; 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.
- Retained pay of $60,388, from $77,040, assumes a single West 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 89 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for West Virginia, so $67,269 — the adjusted value of that $77,040 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 89 of 473 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 $90,120, 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 $44,100 at the bottom tenth to $146,240 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. West Virginia is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $67,269 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; West Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $60,388.
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 West Virginia is $90,120. 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 ($44,100) and the ninetieth ($146,240) 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 $67,269 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 $60,388 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.
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.