Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,102
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$6,648
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,871
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
$37,750
Kept after tax
$31,102
Worth in national money
$30,871
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Virginia. The middle earner gets $37,750. That is 35 of 51 states, and about 4.16% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, this job lands at 435. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $37,750, take-home of $31,102 is worth roughly $30,871 in national money. The average comes to $42,300, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For merchandise displayers and window trimmers, Virginia sits in the lower band at $37,750, ranking 35 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 4.16%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Virginia, this work ranks 435 of 489 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.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for merchandise displayers and window trimmers, whose median is $37,750, the adjusted figure of $30,871 differs little from $31,102 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $42,300 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,550 |
| This salary | $37,750 |
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 | $31,102 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,512 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,586 |
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 | $35,995 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,128 |
| 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 $37,750. The published range is $30,680 up to $64,550, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $31,102, worked from $37,750. 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 435 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,871 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 435.
- Reported values are medians; for merchandise displayers and window trimmers in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,680 to $64,550. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $31,102, on $37,750 for work ranking 435 of 489 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 435 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,871, worked from $37,750, 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 435 of 489 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 $42,300, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $30,680, the highest tenth $64,550, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $30,871 of national purchasing power.
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 Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,102 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $42,300. 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 ($30,680) and the ninetieth ($64,550) 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.
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 $30,871 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 $31,102 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.