Psychiatrists in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$195,848
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$99,162
33.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$194,392
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
$295,010
Kept after tax
$195,848
Worth in national money
$194,392
State rank
16
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays psychiatrists around $295,010 at the midpoint, 16 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Virginia. It ranks 2 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $295,010, tax leaves $195,848, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $194,392 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $272,960.
- For psychiatrists the Virginia median is $295,010, ranking 16 of 46 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Virginia, psychiatrists ranks 2 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.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for psychiatrists — median $295,010 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $195,848 retained, $194,392 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $272,960 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Psychiatrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $129,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $295,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $372,180 |
| This salary | $295,010 |
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 | $195,848 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $212,051 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$23,823 |
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 | $269,293 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$36,299 |
| 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 psychiatrists in Virginia earn under $295,010 and half over. The published range runs $129,440 at the tenth percentile to $372,180 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $195,848 take-home in Virginia comes from $295,010. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 2 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $194,392, the adjusted value of that $295,010 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 2 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for psychiatrists in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $129,440 to $372,180; 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.
- Retained pay of $195,848, from $295,010, assumes a single Virginia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 2 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 16 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $194,392 — the adjusted value of that $295,010 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 2 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 $272,960, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $129,440, the highest tenth $372,180, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $194,392 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $195,848.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $272,960. 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 ($129,440) and the ninetieth ($372,180) 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 $194,392 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 $195,848 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.