Correctional Officers and Jailers in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,111
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$9,779
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,023
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
$52,890
Kept after tax
$43,111
Worth in national money
$48,023
State rank
30
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- West Virginia sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $52,890, ranking 30 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 473 occupations West Virginia reports figures for, this is number 216.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $52,890 you keep $43,111 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $48,023 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $56,670, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia occupies the middle band for correctional officers and jailers: a median of $52,890, ranking 30 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In West Virginia's occupational distribution, correctional officers and jailers sits at 216 of 473 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $43,111 after the full tax stack, from $52,890. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,023 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $56,670 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Correctional Officers and Jailers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,610 |
| This salary | $52,890 |
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 | $43,111 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,677 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,047 |
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 | $50,941 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,476 |
| 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 $52,890. The published range is $45,390 up to $75,610, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $43,111 take-home in West Virginia comes from $52,890. 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 216 of 473.
- Two cautions on $48,023, the adjusted value of that $52,890 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 216 of 473 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for correctional officers and jailers in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,390 to $75,610. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $43,111, from $52,890, 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 216 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 49 for it.
- This $48,023 adjusted figure, worked from $52,890, 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 216 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 216 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $56,670, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,390 and the top tenth $75,610, so most people doing this work in West Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $48,023 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $43,111 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $56,670. 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 ($45,390 to $75,610) 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 $48,023 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 $43,111 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.