Real Estate Sales Agents in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,801
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$11,249
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,247
West Virginia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th 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
$59,050
Kept after tax
$47,801
Worth in national money
$53,247
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. West Virginia is 17 of 48 states for real estate sales agents, with a middle wage of $59,050. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 473 occupations West Virginia reports figures for, this is number 173.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $59,050 you keep $47,801 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,247 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,300, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia ranks 17 of 48 for real estate sales agents at $59,050. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In West Virginia's occupational distribution, real estate sales agents sits at 173 of 473 — 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.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $47,801 after the full tax stack, from $59,050. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,247 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,300 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Real Estate Sales Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,470 |
| This salary | $59,050 |
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 | $47,801 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,627 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,177 |
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 | $56,777 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,633 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 real estate sales agents in West Virginia earn under $59,050 and half over. The published range runs $32,180 at the tenth percentile to $97,470 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 West Virginia's $47,801, worked from $59,050. 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 173 of 473.
- Two cautions on $53,247, the adjusted value of that $59,050 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of West 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 173 of 473 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for real estate sales agents in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,180 to $97,470; 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 West Virginia take-home of $47,801, on $59,050 for work ranking 173 of 473 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 173 of 473 in the state.
- This $53,247 adjusted figure, worked from $59,050, 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 173 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 173 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 $61,300, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $32,180 at the bottom tenth to $97,470 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in West Virginia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $53,247 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; West Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $47,801.
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 48 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 $61,300. 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 ($32,180) and the ninetieth ($97,470) 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 $53,247 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 $47,801 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.