Operations Research Analysts in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,069
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$36,391
28.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$92,377
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
$129,460
Kept after tax
$93,069
Worth in national money
$92,377
State rank
2
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Virginia pays operations research analysts a middle wage of $129,460, ranking 2 of 47 states and sitting about 45.56% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations Virginia reports, operations research analysts comes in at 33 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $129,460, tax leaves $93,069, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $92,377 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $130,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- Virginia's median for operations research analysts is $129,460, about 45.56% above the national figure and 2 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Operations research analysts ranks 33 of 489 occupations by median in Virginia, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for operations research analysts — median $129,460 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $93,069 retained, $92,377 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $130,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Operations Research Analysts
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $71,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $129,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $194,260 |
| This salary | $129,460 |
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 | $93,069 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $99,752 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,275 |
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 | $119,742 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,411 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $129,460 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $71,820 and the ninetieth is $194,260 — 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 Virginia's $93,069, worked from $129,460. 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 33 of 489.
- Two cautions on $92,377, the adjusted value of that $129,460 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of 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 33 of 489 locally.
- The Virginia median of $129,460 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $71,820 to $194,260. 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 Virginia take-home of $93,069, on $129,460 for work ranking 33 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 33 of 489 in the state.
- This $92,377 adjusted figure, worked from $129,460, 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 33 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 33 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $71,820 at the bottom tenth to $194,260 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $92,377 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Virginia's own levy, $93,069 remains.
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 47 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 ($71,820) and the ninetieth ($194,260) 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 $92,377 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 $93,069 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.