Postal Service Mail Carriers in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,245
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,825
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,879
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
$62,070
Kept after tax
$49,245
Worth in national money
$48,879
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Virginia pays postal service mail carriers a middle wage of $62,070, ranking 10 of 51 states and sitting about 2.51% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Virginia reports figures for, this is number 226.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $62,070, take-home of $49,245 is worth roughly $48,879 in national money. The average comes to $62,790, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Virginia's median for postal service mail carriers is $62,070, about 2.51% above the national figure and 10 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Virginia's occupational distribution, postal service mail carriers sits at 226 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for postal service mail carriers, whose median is $62,070, the adjusted figure of $48,879 differs little from $49,245 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $62,790 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postal Service Mail Carriers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,040 |
| This salary | $62,070 |
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 | $49,245 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,053 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,688 |
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 | $58,575 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,669 |
| 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 $62,070. The published range is $42,390 up to $81,040, 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 $49,245, worked from $62,070. 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 226 of 489.
- Two cautions on $48,879, the adjusted value of that $62,070 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 226 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for postal service mail carriers in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,390 to $81,040. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $49,245, on $62,070 for work ranking 226 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 226 of 489 in the state.
- This $48,879 adjusted figure, worked from $62,070, 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 226 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 226 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $42,390 at the bottom tenth to $81,040 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $48,879 of national purchasing power.
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, $49,245 remains.
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 ($42,390 to $81,040) 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 $48,879 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 $49,245 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.