Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,793
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$9,267
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,505
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
$48,060
Kept after tax
$38,793
Worth in national money
$38,505
State rank
37
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Virginia pays this job a middle wage of $48,060, 37 of 50 states and about 9.9% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 334 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $48,060, take-home of $38,793 is worth roughly $38,505 in national money. The average comes to $49,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Virginia's $48,060 median for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators places it 37 of 50 states, about 9.9% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 334 of 489 in Virginia places paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, whose median is $48,060, the adjusted figure of $38,505 differs little from $38,793 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $49,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,410 |
| This salary | $48,060 |
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 | $38,793 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,796 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,477 |
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 | $45,567 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,205 |
| 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 $48,060. The published range is $38,130 up to $60,410, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $38,793, worked from $48,060. 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 334 of 489.
- Two cautions on $38,505, the adjusted value of that $48,060 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 334 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,130 to $60,410. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $38,793, on $48,060 for work ranking 334 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 334 of 489 in the state.
- This $38,505 adjusted figure, worked from $48,060, 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 334 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 334 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 $49,640, 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 $38,130 and the top tenth $60,410, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $38,505 — 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 $38,793.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $49,640. 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 ($38,130 to $60,410) 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 $38,505 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 $38,793 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.