Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,051
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,419
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,694
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
$60,470
Kept after tax
$48,051
Worth in national money
$47,694
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Virginia. The middle earner gets $60,470. That is 38 of 51 states, and about 5.22% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Virginia, this sits in the middle: 242 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $60,470, tax leaves $48,051, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $47,694 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $60,650, since top earners drag the number up.
- For plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, Virginia sits in the lower band at $60,470, ranking 38 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 5.22%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters ranks 242 of 489 occupations in Virginia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters — median $60,470 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $48,051 retained, $47,694 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $60,650 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,050 |
| This salary | $60,470 |
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 | $48,051 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,768 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,550 |
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 | $57,089 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,502 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,470 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,970 and the ninetieth is $78,050 — 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 $48,051, worked from $60,470. 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 242 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,694 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 242.
- The Virginia median of $60,470 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,970 to $78,050. 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 $48,051, on $60,470 for work ranking 242 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 242 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,694, worked from $60,470, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Virginia address, on work sitting at 242 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,970 at the tenth percentile, $78,050 at the ninetieth.
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 $47,694 — 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 $48,051 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,970 to $78,050) 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 $47,694 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 $48,051 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.