Psychiatrists in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,047
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,273
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,863
West Virginia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the bottom tenth percentile for this work in West 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
$63,320
Kept after tax
$51,047
Worth in national money
$56,863
State rank
46
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays psychiatrists a middle wage of $63,320, 46 of 46 states and about 77.54% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in West Virginia, this sits in the middle: 147 of 473 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where West Virginia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $63,320 you keep $51,047, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $56,863 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $173,570, because the best-paid pull it up.
- West Virginia's $63,320 median for psychiatrists places it 46 of 46 states, about 77.54% 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.
- Psychiatrists ranks 147 of 473 occupations in West 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.
- After federal, FICA and West Virginia income tax, retained pay for psychiatrists on $63,320 is $51,047. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $56,863 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $173,570 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Psychiatrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $465,770 |
| This salary | $63,320 |
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 West Virginia | $51,047 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,058 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,262 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $60,817 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,736 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,320 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,320 and the ninetieth is $465,770 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $51,047, from $63,320, 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 147 of 473 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,863 uses one figure for the whole of West Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 473 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 147.
- The West Virginia median of $63,320 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,320 to $465,770. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for West Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $51,047 from $63,320. 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 147 of 473 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,863, worked from $63,320, 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 West Virginia address, on work sitting at 147 of 473 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 $173,570, 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 $63,320, the highest tenth $465,770, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. West Virginia is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $56,863 in national terms.
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 West Virginia's own levy, $51,047 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 West Virginia is $173,570. 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 ($63,320) and the ninetieth ($465,770) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
West Virginia's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $56,863 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $51,047 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and West 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.