Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,748
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$9,352
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,505
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
$51,100
Kept after tax
$41,748
Worth in national money
$46,505
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in West Virginia. The middle earner gets $51,100. That is 46 of 51 states, and about 14.93% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 229 among 473 occupations West Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $51,100 you keep $41,748 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $46,505 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $53,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- For security and fire alarm systems installers, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $51,100, ranking 46 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 14.93%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 229 of 473 in West Virginia places security and fire alarm systems installers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $41,748 after the full tax stack, from $51,100. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,505 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $53,750 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,900 |
| This salary | $51,100 |
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 | $41,748 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,239 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,009 |
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 | $49,245 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,430 |
| 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 security and fire alarm systems installers in West Virginia earn under $51,100 and half over. The published range runs $37,360 at the tenth percentile to $72,900 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $41,748 take-home in West Virginia comes from $51,100. 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 229 of 473.
- Two cautions on $46,505, the adjusted value of that $51,100 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 229 of 473 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for security and fire alarm systems installers in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,360 to $72,900; 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 $41,748, from $51,100, assumes a single West 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 229 of 473 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- This $46,505 adjusted figure, worked from $51,100, 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 229 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 229 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $53,750, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,360 and the top tenth $72,900, so most people doing this work in West Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $46,505 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 West Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $41,748 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 West Virginia is $53,750. 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 ($37,360 to $72,900) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to West Virginia rather than a national figure.
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 $46,505 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 $41,748 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.
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.