Home Health and Personal Care Aides in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,012
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$3,998
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,748
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
$28,010
Kept after tax
$24,012
Worth in national money
$26,748
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays home health and personal care aides a middle wage of $28,010, 45 of 51 states and about 21.76% 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, home health and personal care aides ranks 457. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $28,010 you keep $24,012 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $26,748 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $27,760.
- West Virginia's $28,010 median for home health and personal care aides places it 45 of 51 states, about 21.76% 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, home health and personal care aides ranks 457 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 $24,012 after the full tax stack, from $28,010. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $26,748 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $27,760 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $32,590 |
| This salary | $28,010 |
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 | $24,012 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,676 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,354 |
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 | $27,203 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,625 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $28,010 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $22,430 and the ninetieth is $32,590 — 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 $24,012, worked from $28,010. 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 457 of 473.
- Two cautions on $26,748, the adjusted value of that $28,010 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 457 of 473 locally.
- The West Virginia median of $28,010 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $22,430 to $32,590. 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 $24,012, on $28,010 for work ranking 457 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 457 of 473 in the state.
- This $26,748 adjusted figure, worked from $28,010, 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 457 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 457 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $22,430 at the tenth percentile, $32,590 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 $26,748.
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 $24,012 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($22,430 to $32,590) 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 $26,748 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 $24,012 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.