Pharmacists in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$102,208
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$41,852
29.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$101,448
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
$144,060
Kept after tax
$102,208
Worth in national money
$101,448
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for pharmacists. The middle earner takes $144,060, which ranks 17 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 2.24% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Virginia. It ranks 22 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $144,060, tax leaves $102,208, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $101,448 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $141,990.
- Virginia ranks 17 of 51 states publishing a median for pharmacists, at $144,060 — about 2.24% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Virginia, pharmacists ranks 22 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for pharmacists — median $144,060 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $102,208 retained, $101,448 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $141,990 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Pharmacists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $106,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $144,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $173,550 |
| This salary | $144,060 |
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 | $102,208 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $109,731 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,473 |
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 | $133,054 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,311 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $144,060 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $106,800 and the ninetieth is $173,550 — 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 $102,208, worked from $144,060. 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 22 of 489.
- Two cautions on $101,448, the adjusted value of that $144,060 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 22 of 489 locally.
- The Virginia median of $144,060 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $106,800 to $173,550. 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 $102,208, on $144,060 for work ranking 22 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 22 of 489 in the state.
- This $101,448 adjusted figure, worked from $144,060, 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 22 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 22 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $106,800 and the top tenth $173,550, 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 $101,448 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $102,208 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($106,800 to $173,550) 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 $101,448 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 $102,208 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.