Orderlies in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,924
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$4,846
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,991
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
$31,770
Kept after tax
$26,924
Worth in national money
$29,991
State rank
43
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for orderlies is on the low side in West Virginia. The middle earner gets $31,770. That is 43 of 47 states, and about 17.03% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 473 occupations West Virginia publishes, orderlies lands at 425. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $31,770 the take-home is $26,924; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $29,991 would nationally. The average comes to $33,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For orderlies, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $31,770, ranking 43 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 17.03%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within West Virginia, this work ranks 425 of 473 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.
- Post-tax income for orderlies in West Virginia, on $31,770, is $26,924 — equivalent to $29,991 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $33,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Orderlies
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $35,990 |
| This salary | $31,770 |
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 | $26,924 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,707 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,479 |
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 | $30,795 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,788 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,770 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,280 and the ninetieth is $35,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $26,924 take-home in West Virginia comes from $31,770. 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 425 of 473.
- Two cautions on $29,991, the adjusted value of that $31,770 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 425 of 473 locally.
- The West Virginia median of $31,770 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,280 to $35,990. 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 $26,924, from $31,770, assumes a single West 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 425 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 47 for it.
- This $29,991 adjusted figure, worked from $31,770, 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 425 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 425 of 473 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 $33,460, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,280 and the top tenth $35,990, so most people doing this work in West Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in West Virginia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $29,991 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $26,924.
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.
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 $33,460. 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 ($29,280 to $35,990) 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 $29,991 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 $26,924 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.
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.