Photographers in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,667
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$8,883
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,387
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
$46,550
Kept after tax
$37,667
Worth in national money
$37,387
State rank
14
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for photographers. The middle earner takes $46,550, which ranks 14 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 4.23% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Photographers ranks 352 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $46,550, tax leaves $37,667, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $37,387 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $52,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- Virginia ranks 14 of 49 states publishing a median for photographers, at $46,550 — about 4.23% 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.
- Position 352 of 489 in Virginia places photographers 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.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for photographers — median $46,550 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $37,667 retained, $37,387 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $52,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,060 |
| This salary | $46,550 |
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 | $37,667 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,583 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,347 |
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 | $44,165 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,048 |
| 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 $46,550. The published range is $31,200 up to $91,060, 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 $37,667, worked from $46,550. 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 352 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,387, the adjusted value of that $46,550 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 352 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for photographers in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $91,060. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $37,667, on $46,550 for work ranking 352 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 352 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $37,387 — the adjusted value of that $46,550 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 352 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 $52,640, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,200 and the top tenth $91,060 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $37,387 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Virginia's own levy, $37,667 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $52,640. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,200) and the ninetieth ($91,060) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $37,387 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 $37,667 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.