Project Management Specialists in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$87,653
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$33,187
27.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$87,002
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
$120,840
Kept after tax
$87,653
Worth in national money
$87,002
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Virginia pays project management specialists a middle wage of $120,840, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 18.1% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Virginia. It ranks 46 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $120,840 the take-home is $87,653, which is worth about $87,002 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $123,390, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia's median for project management specialists is $120,840, about 18.1% above the national figure and 6 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.
- Within Virginia, project management specialists ranks 46 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.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for project management specialists on its $120,840 median: $87,653 retained after tax becomes $87,002 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $123,390 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $68,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $120,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $179,970 |
| This salary | $120,840 |
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 | $87,653 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $93,841 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,567 |
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 | $112,044 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,216 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 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 project management specialists in Virginia earn under $120,840 and half over. The published range runs $68,020 at the tenth percentile to $179,970 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $87,653, worked from $120,840. 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 46 of 489.
- Two cautions on $87,002, the adjusted value of that $120,840 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 46 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for project management specialists in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $68,020 to $179,970; 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.
- The Virginia take-home of $87,653, on $120,840 for work ranking 46 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 46 of 489 in the state.
- This $87,002 adjusted figure, worked from $120,840, 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 46 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 46 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $68,020, the highest tenth $179,970, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $87,002 — 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 $87,653 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($68,020) and the ninetieth ($179,970) 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 $87,002 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 $87,653 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.