Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,357
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$4,383
14.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,246
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
$29,740
Kept after tax
$25,357
Worth in national money
$28,246
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in West Virginia. The middle earner gets $29,740. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 20.59% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 473 occupations West Virginia publishes, this job lands at 440. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where West Virginia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $29,740 you keep $25,357, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $28,246 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $31,470, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For cooks, institution and cafeteria, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $29,740, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 20.59%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within West Virginia, this work ranks 440 of 473 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and West Virginia income tax, retained pay for cooks, institution and cafeteria on $29,740 is $25,357. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $28,246 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $31,470 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,470 |
| This salary | $29,740 |
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 | $25,357 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,076 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,412 |
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 | $28,845 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,707 |
| 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 $29,740. The published range is $23,820 up to $38,470, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $25,357 take-home in West Virginia comes from $29,740. 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 440 of 473.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,246 uses one figure for the whole of West Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 473 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 440.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, institution and cafeteria in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $23,820 to $38,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $25,357, from $29,740, 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 440 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,246, worked from $29,740, 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 West Virginia address, on work sitting at 440 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 $31,470, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $23,820 at the bottom tenth to $38,470 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $28,246.
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 $25,357 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 $31,470. 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 ($23,820 to $38,470) 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 $28,246 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 $25,357 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.