Food Batchmakers in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,155
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$5,505
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,476
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
$34,660
Kept after tax
$29,155
Worth in national money
$32,476
State rank
49
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays food batchmakers a middle wage of $34,660, 49 of 50 states and about 18.04% 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, food batchmakers ranks 405. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $34,660 you keep $29,155 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,476 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia's $34,660 median for food batchmakers places it 49 of 50 states, about 18.04% 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, food batchmakers ranks 405 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.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $29,155 after the full tax stack, from $34,660. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,476 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Food Batchmakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,630 |
| This salary | $34,660 |
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 | $29,155 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,029 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,574 |
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 | $33,572 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,904 |
| 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 $34,660. The published range is $26,100 up to $47,630, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $29,155, from $34,660, 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 405 of 473 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,476 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 405.
- Reported values are medians; for food batchmakers in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $26,100 to $47,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for West Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,155 from $34,660. 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 405 of 473 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,476, worked from $34,660, 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 405 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 $36,920, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $26,100 at the tenth percentile, $47,630 at the ninetieth.
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 $32,476.
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, $29,155 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 $36,920. 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 ($26,100 to $47,630) 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 $32,476 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 $29,155 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.