Funeral Attendants in West Virginia

A small group standing together at a graveside on an overcast morning.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$26,646

after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax

Tax takes

$4,764

15.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$29,682

West Virginia costs less than average

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

$31,410

Kept after tax

$26,646

Worth in national money

$29,682

State rank

36

of 48 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for funeral attendants is on the low side in West Virginia. The middle earner gets $31,410. That is 36 of 48 states, and about 11.97% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Against 473 occupations West Virginia publishes, funeral attendants lands at 427. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
  • Here is where West Virginia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $31,410 you keep $26,646, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $29,682 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $34,080, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For funeral attendants, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $31,410, ranking 36 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 11.97%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Within West Virginia, this work ranks 427 of 473 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
  • After federal, FICA and West Virginia income tax, retained pay for funeral attendants on $31,410 is $26,646. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $29,682 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $34,080 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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Pay band: Funeral Attendants

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$27,630
Half earn under$31,410
Top tenth earn over$45,430
This salary$31,410

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

Compare with
+$772take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in West Virginia$26,646
Take-home in Texas$27,418
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,467

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

Moving to
$0$33,184
$33,184in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$30,449
Raise you would need+$1,774
Prices in Texas97 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 $31,410. The published range is $27,630 up to $45,430, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • That $26,646 take-home in West Virginia comes from $31,410. 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 427 of 473.
  • Two cautions on $29,682, the adjusted value of that $31,410 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 427 of 473 locally.
  • Reported values are medians; for funeral attendants in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,630 to $45,430. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Retained pay of $26,646, from $31,410, 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 427 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 48 for it.
  • This $29,682 adjusted figure, worked from $31,410, 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 427 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 427 of 473 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $34,080 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $27,630 at the tenth percentile, $45,430 at the ninetieth.

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 $29,682 in national terms.

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, $26,646 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $34,080. 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 ($27,630 to $45,430) 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 $29,682 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 $26,646 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.