Order Clerks in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,705
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$7,875
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,447
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
$42,580
Kept after tax
$34,705
Worth in national money
$34,447
State rank
35
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for order clerks is on the low side in Virginia. The middle earner gets $42,580. That is 35 of 48 states, and about 7.78% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, order clerks lands at 402. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $42,580, tax leaves $34,705, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $34,447 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $45,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- For order clerks, Virginia sits in the lower band at $42,580, ranking 35 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 7.78%. 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 402 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.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for order clerks — median $42,580 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,705 retained, $34,447 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $45,170 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Order Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,620 |
| This salary | $42,580 |
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 | $34,705 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,393 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,004 |
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 | $40,480 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,633 |
| 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 $42,580. The published range is $35,140 up to $61,620, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $34,705 take-home in Virginia comes from $42,580. 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 402 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,447 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 402.
- Reported values are medians; for order clerks in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,140 to $61,620. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $34,705, from $42,580, 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 402 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,447, worked from $42,580, 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 402 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $45,170, 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 — $35,140 at the tenth percentile, $61,620 at the ninetieth.
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 $34,447 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $34,705.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 Virginia is $45,170. 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 ($35,140 to $61,620) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
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 $34,447 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 $34,705 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.