Firefighters in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,231
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$6,119
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,789
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
$37,350
Kept after tax
$31,231
Worth in national money
$34,789
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays firefighters a middle wage of $37,350, 47 of 50 states and about 36.99% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within West Virginia this is lower-paid work. Of 473 occupations the state publishes figures for, firefighters ranks 367. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $37,350 the take-home is $31,231; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,789 would nationally. The average comes to $40,100, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- West Virginia's $37,350 median for firefighters places it 47 of 50 states, about 36.99% 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.
- Against every occupation West Virginia reports, firefighters ranks 367 of 473, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for firefighters in West Virginia, on $37,350, is $31,231 — equivalent to $34,789 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 $40,100 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,390 |
| This salary | $37,350 |
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 | $31,231 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,191 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,663 |
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 | $36,156 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,011 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,350 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,020 and the ninetieth is $51,390 — 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 $31,231, worked from $37,350. 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 367 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 $34,789, the adjusted value of that $37,350 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 367 of 473 in the state.
- The West Virginia median of $37,350 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,020 to $51,390. 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 $31,231, on $37,350 for work ranking 367 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 367 of 473 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for West Virginia, so $34,789 — the adjusted value of that $37,350 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 367 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 $40,100, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,020 at the tenth percentile, $51,390 at the ninetieth.
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 $34,789 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and West Virginia's own levy, $31,231 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $40,100. 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 ($29,020 to $51,390) 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 $34,789 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 $31,231 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.