Office Machine Operators, Except Computer in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,213
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$7,707
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,959
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
$41,920
Kept after tax
$34,213
Worth in national money
$33,959
State rank
17
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $41,920, ranking 17 of 47 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Virginia, this one sits low: 405 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $41,920 the take-home is $34,213, which is worth about $33,959 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $44,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia occupies the middle band for office machine operators, except computer: a median of $41,920, ranking 17 of 47. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Office machine operators, except computer occupies position 405 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.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for office machine operators, except computer on its $41,920 median: $34,213 retained after tax becomes $33,959 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $44,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Office Machine Operators, Except Computer
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,210 |
| This salary | $41,920 |
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 | $34,213 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,863 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,947 |
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 | $39,867 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,564 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $41,920 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,550 and the ninetieth is $61,210 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $34,213 take-home in Virginia comes from $41,920. 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 405 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,959, the adjusted value of that $41,920 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 405 of 489 in the state.
- The Virginia median of $41,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,550 to $61,210. 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 $34,213, from $41,920, assumes a single 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 405 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $33,959 — the adjusted value of that $41,920 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 405 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 $44,820, 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 $28,550, the highest tenth $61,210, 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 $33,959 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 $34,213 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $44,820. 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 ($28,550) and the ninetieth ($61,210) 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 $33,959 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 $34,213 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.