Packers and Packagers, Hand in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,051
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$5,949
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,835
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
$35,000
Kept after tax
$29,051
Worth in national money
$28,835
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Virginia is 33 of 51 states for packers and packagers, hand, with a middle wage of $35,000. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Virginia this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, packers and packagers, hand ranks 465. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $35,000, take-home of $29,051 is worth roughly $28,835 in national money. The average comes to $36,470, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Virginia ranks 33 of 51 for packers and packagers, hand at $35,000. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Virginia reports, packers and packagers, hand ranks 465 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for packers and packagers, hand, whose median is $35,000, the adjusted figure of $28,835 differs little from $29,051 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $36,470 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Packers and Packagers, Hand
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,880 |
| This salary | $35,000 |
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 | $29,051 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,303 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,349 |
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 | $33,442 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,841 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,000 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,240 and the ninetieth is $46,880 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $29,051, from $35,000, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 465 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $28,835, the adjusted value of that $35,000 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 465 of 489 locally.
- The Virginia median of $35,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,240 to $46,880. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,051 from $35,000. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 465 of 489 locally.
- This $28,835 adjusted figure, worked from $35,000, 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 465 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 465 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 $36,470, 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 — $27,240 at the tenth percentile, $46,880 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $28,835 rather than its face figure.
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 $29,051 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 $36,470. 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 ($27,240 to $46,880) 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 $28,835 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 $29,051 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.