Education Administrators, Postsecondary in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,400
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$19,260
22.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,851
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
$84,660
Kept after tax
$65,400
Worth in national money
$72,851
State rank
48
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 $84,660. That is 48 of 51 states, and about 19.06% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 473 occupations West Virginia reports, this job comes in at 61 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $84,660 the take-home is $65,400; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $72,851 would nationally. The average comes to $107,900, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For education administrators, postsecondary, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $84,660, ranking 48 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.06%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Education administrators, postsecondary ranks 61 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.
- Post-tax income for education administrators, postsecondary in West Virginia, on $84,660, is $65,400 — equivalent to $72,851 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $107,900 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $53,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $198,330 |
| This salary | $84,660 |
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 | $65,400 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,388 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,475 |
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 | $80,412 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,418 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,660 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $53,160 and the ninetieth is $198,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind West Virginia's $65,400, worked from $84,660. 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 61 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 $72,851, the adjusted value of that $84,660 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 61 of 473 in the state.
- The West Virginia median of $84,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $53,160 to $198,330. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The West Virginia take-home of $65,400, on $84,660 for work ranking 61 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 61 of 473 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for West Virginia, so $72,851 — the adjusted value of that $84,660 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 61 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 $107,900, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $53,160, the highest tenth $198,330, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $72,851 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 $65,400 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $107,900. 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 ($53,160) and the ninetieth ($198,330) 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 $72,851 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 $65,400 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.