Marriage and Family Therapists in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,250
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$10,450
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,406
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
$55,700
Kept after tax
$45,250
Worth in national money
$50,406
State rank
34
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- West Virginia is among the lower-paying states for marriage and family therapists. The middle earner takes $55,700, ranking 34 of 45 states — about 16.79% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Marriage and family therapists ranks 197 among 473 occupations West Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $55,700 you keep $45,250 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $50,406 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $60,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia ranks 34 of 45 for marriage and family therapists, with a median of $55,700 — about 16.79% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 197 of 473 in West Virginia places marriage and family therapists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $45,250 after the full tax stack, from $55,700. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $50,406 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Marriage and Family Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,950 |
| This salary | $55,700 |
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 | $45,250 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,935 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,106 |
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 | $53,603 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,547 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 marriage and family therapists in West Virginia earn under $55,700 and half over. The published range runs $31,760 at the tenth percentile to $115,950 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $45,250, from $55,700, 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 197 of 473 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,406, the adjusted value of that $55,700 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 197 of 473 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for marriage and family therapists in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,760 to $115,950; 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.
- Take-home for West Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $45,250 from $55,700. 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 197 of 473 locally.
- This $50,406 adjusted figure, worked from $55,700, 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 197 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 197 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $60,720, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,760 and the top tenth $115,950 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $50,406 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 West Virginia's own levy, $45,250 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 West Virginia is $60,720. 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 ($31,760) and the ninetieth ($115,950) 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 $50,406 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 $45,250 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.