Library Assistants, Clerical in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,304
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$6,716
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,071
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
$38,020
Kept after tax
$31,304
Worth in national money
$31,071
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for library assistants, clerical is strong here. Virginia's middle earner gets $38,020, putting the state 16 of 50 — about 3.01% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Virginia, this one sits low: 431 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,020, tax leaves $31,304, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,071 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $40,250, since top earners drag the number up.
- For library assistants, clerical, Virginia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $38,020, ranking 16 of 50 and running about 3.01% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Library assistants, clerical occupies position 431 of 489 in Virginia's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for library assistants, clerical — median $38,020 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,304 retained, $31,071 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $40,250 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Library Assistants, Clerical
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,180 |
| This salary | $38,020 |
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 | $31,304 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,729 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,610 |
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 | $36,246 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,156 |
| 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 $38,020. The published range is $29,250 up to $54,180, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $31,304, from $38,020, 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 431 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $31,071, the adjusted value of that $38,020 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of 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 431 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for library assistants, clerical in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,250 to $54,180. 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 $31,304 from $38,020. 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 431 of 489 locally.
- This $31,071 adjusted figure, worked from $38,020, 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 431 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 431 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,250, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,250 and the top tenth $54,180, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $31,071 of national purchasing power.
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, $31,304 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $40,250. 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 ($29,250 to $54,180) 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 $31,071 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 $31,304 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.
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.