Industrial Machinery Mechanics in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,700
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$13,320
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,323
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in 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
$64,020
Kept after tax
$50,700
Worth in national money
$50,323
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Virginia is 34 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $64,020. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Virginia, this sits in the middle: 204 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $64,020, take-home of $50,700 is worth roughly $50,323 in national money. The average comes to $67,320, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Virginia ranks 34 of 51 for industrial machinery mechanics at $64,020. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Industrial machinery mechanics ranks 204 of 489 occupations in Virginia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for industrial machinery mechanics, whose median is $64,020, the adjusted figure of $50,323 differs little from $50,700 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $67,320 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Industrial Machinery Mechanics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,210 |
| This salary | $64,020 |
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 Virginia | $50,700 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,620 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,856 |
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 | $60,385 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,873 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $64,020. The published range is $46,060 up to $92,210, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $50,700, from $64,020, 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 204 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,323 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 204.
- Reported values are medians; for industrial machinery mechanics in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,060 to $92,210. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,700 from $64,020. 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 204 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,323, worked from $64,020, 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 Virginia address, on work sitting at 204 of 489 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 $67,320 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $46,060, the highest tenth $92,210, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $50,323 rather than its face figure.
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 Virginia's own levy, $50,700 remains.
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.
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 Virginia is $67,320. 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 ($46,060) and the ninetieth ($92,210) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $50,323 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $50,700 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and 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.