Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,943
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$8,977
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,661
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
$46,920
Kept after tax
$37,943
Worth in national money
$37,661
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $46,920, ranking 29 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Virginia, this sits in the middle: 349 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $46,920 the take-home is $37,943, which is worth about $37,661 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $48,810, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia occupies the middle band for industrial truck and tractor operators: a median of $46,920, ranking 29 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Industrial truck and tractor operators ranks 349 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.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for industrial truck and tractor operators on its $46,920 median: $37,943 retained after tax becomes $37,661 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $48,810 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,260 |
| This salary | $46,920 |
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 | $37,943 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,880 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,379 |
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 | $44,509 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,086 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of industrial truck and tractor operators in Virginia earn under $46,920 and half over. The published range runs $37,250 at the tenth percentile to $62,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $37,943 take-home in Virginia comes from $46,920. 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 349 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $37,661 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 349.
- Figures are distribution medians for industrial truck and tractor operators in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,250 to $62,260; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $37,943, from $46,920, assumes a single 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 349 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 29 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $37,661, worked from $46,920, 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 349 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 $48,810 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,250 at the bottom tenth to $62,260 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $37,661 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $37,943.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Virginia is $48,810. 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 ($37,250 to $62,260) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
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 $37,661 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 $37,943 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.