Production Workers, All Other in Virginia

Machined metal parts and a CNC machine in a clean manufacturing workshop.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$31,542

after federal, FICA and Virginia tax

Tax takes

$6,798

17.7% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$31,308

Virginia costs more than average

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

$38,340

Kept after tax

$31,542

Worth in national money

$31,308

State rank

42

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • The nominal figure here is modest. Virginia pays production workers, all other a middle wage of $38,340, 42 of 51 states and about 4.41% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
  • Within Virginia this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, production workers, all other ranks 427. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $38,340, take-home of $31,542 is worth roughly $31,308 in national money. The average comes to $43,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • Virginia's $38,340 median for production workers, all other places it 42 of 51 states, about 4.41% 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.
  • Against every occupation Virginia reports, production workers, all other ranks 427 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
  • Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for production workers, all other, whose median is $38,340, the adjusted figure of $31,308 differs little from $31,542 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $43,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Production Workers, All Other

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$33,650
Half earn under$38,340
Top tenth earn over$60,310
This salary$38,340

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

Compare with
+$1,444take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Virginia$31,542
Take-home in Texas$32,986
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$2,637

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

Moving to
$0now · $38,340$35,150
$35,150in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$36,543
You could take a cut of−$3,190
Prices in Texas97 vs 101

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of production workers, all other in Virginia earn under $38,340 and half over. The published range runs $33,650 at the tenth percentile to $60,310 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • In Virginia the take-home figure of $31,542, from $38,340, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 427 of 489 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,308 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 427.
  • Figures are distribution medians for production workers, all other in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,650 to $60,310; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
  • Take-home for Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,542 from $38,340. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 427 of 489 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,308, worked from $38,340, 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 427 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 $43,460, 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?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $33,650 at the tenth percentile, $60,310 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 $31,308 — 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 $31,542 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.

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 $43,460. 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 ($33,650 to $60,310) 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 $31,308 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 $31,542 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.