Conservation Scientists in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,699
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$14,211
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,045
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
$69,910
Kept after tax
$55,699
Worth in national money
$62,045
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. West Virginia is 33 of 51 states for conservation scientists, with a middle wage of $69,910. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 473 occupations West Virginia reports, conservation scientists comes in at 117 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $69,910 you keep $55,699 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $62,045 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $75,350, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia ranks 33 of 51 for conservation scientists at $69,910. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Conservation scientists ranks 117 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 $55,699 after the full tax stack, from $69,910. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $62,045 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $75,350 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Conservation Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $69,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,470 |
| This salary | $69,910 |
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 | $55,699 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,012 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,347 |
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 | $66,622 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,242 |
| 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 conservation scientists in West Virginia earn under $69,910 and half over. The published range runs $42,670 at the tenth percentile to $133,470 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind West Virginia's $55,699, worked from $69,910. 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 117 of 473.
- Two cautions on $62,045, the adjusted value of that $69,910 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 117 of 473 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for conservation scientists in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,670 to $133,470; 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.
- The West Virginia take-home of $55,699, on $69,910 for work ranking 117 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 117 of 473 in the state.
- This $62,045 adjusted figure, worked from $69,910, 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 117 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 117 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 $75,350 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $42,670 at the bottom tenth to $133,470 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 $62,045 in national terms.
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 West Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $55,699 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $75,350. 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 ($42,670) and the ninetieth ($133,470) 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 $62,045 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 $55,699 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.