Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,065
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$6,365
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,718
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
$38,430
Kept after tax
$32,065
Worth in national money
$35,718
State rank
46
of 51 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 $38,430. That is 46 of 51 states, and about 16.33% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 348 among 473 occupations West Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,430 you keep $32,065 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,718 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $41,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- For medical secretaries and administrative assistants, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $38,430, ranking 46 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 16.33%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 348 of 473 in West Virginia places medical secretaries and administrative assistants 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 $32,065 after the full tax stack, from $38,430. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,718 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,170 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,690 |
| This salary | $38,430 |
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 | $32,065 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,059 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,699 |
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 | $37,193 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,054 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,430 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,910 and the ninetieth is $50,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind West Virginia's $32,065, worked from $38,430. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 348 of 473.
- Two cautions on $35,718, the adjusted value of that $38,430 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 348 of 473 locally.
- The West Virginia median of $38,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,910 to $50,690. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The West Virginia take-home of $32,065, on $38,430 for work ranking 348 of 473 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 348 of 473 in the state.
- This $35,718 adjusted figure, worked from $38,430, 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 348 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 348 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,910 at the tenth percentile, $50,690 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $35,718.
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; West Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $32,065.
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 West Virginia is $41,170. 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 ($30,910 to $50,690) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to West Virginia rather than a national figure.
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 $35,718 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 $32,065 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.
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.