Environmental Engineers in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,440
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$18,760
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,782
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
$83,200
Kept after tax
$64,440
Worth in national money
$71,782
State rank
50
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays environmental engineers a middle wage of $83,200, 50 of 50 states and about 22.32% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in West Virginia. It ranks 65 out of 473 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $83,200 the take-home is $64,440; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $71,782 would nationally. The average comes to $92,680, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- West Virginia's $83,200 median for environmental engineers places it 50 of 50 states, about 22.32% 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.
- Within West Virginia, environmental engineers ranks 65 of 473 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for environmental engineers in West Virginia, on $83,200, is $64,440 — equivalent to $71,782 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 $92,680 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Environmental Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $155,170 |
| This salary | $83,200 |
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 | $64,440 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,361 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,462 |
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 | $79,047 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,401 |
| 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 environmental engineers in West Virginia earn under $83,200 and half over. The published range runs $57,460 at the tenth percentile to $155,170 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $64,440, from $83,200, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 65 of 473 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of West Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $71,782, the adjusted value of that $83,200 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 65 of 473 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for environmental engineers in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,460 to $155,170; 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.
- Take-home for West Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $64,440 from $83,200. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 65 of 473 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for West Virginia, so $71,782 — the adjusted value of that $83,200 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 65 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 $92,680, 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 $57,460, the highest tenth $155,170, 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 $71,782 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 $64,440 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $92,680. 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 ($57,460) and the ninetieth ($155,170) 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 $71,782 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 $64,440 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.