Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,525
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$5,615
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,889
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
$35,140
Kept after tax
$29,525
Worth in national money
$32,889
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in West Virginia. The middle earner gets $35,140. That is 47 of 50 states, and about 10.54% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 473 occupations West Virginia publishes, this job lands at 399. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,140 the take-home is $29,525; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $32,889 would nationally. The average comes to $36,010, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $35,140, ranking 47 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 10.54%. 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 399 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.
- Post-tax income for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service in West Virginia, on $35,140, is $29,525 — equivalent to $32,889 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $36,010 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,480 |
| This salary | $35,140 |
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 | $29,525 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,415 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,590 |
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 | $34,033 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,923 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,140 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $21,390 and the ninetieth is $50,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $29,525 take-home in West Virginia comes from $35,140. 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 399 of 473.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,889 uses one figure for the whole of West Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 473 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 399.
- The West Virginia median of $35,140 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $21,390 to $50,480. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $29,525, from $35,140, 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 399 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,889, worked from $35,140, 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 West Virginia address, on work sitting at 399 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $21,390, the highest tenth $50,480, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in West Virginia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $32,889 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $29,525 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($21,390) and the ninetieth ($50,480) 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.
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 $32,889 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 $29,525 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.