Skincare Specialists in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,756
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$6,274
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,374
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
$38,030
Kept after tax
$31,756
Worth in national money
$35,374
State rank
43
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays skincare specialists a middle wage of $38,030, 43 of 49 states and about 16.1% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within West Virginia this is lower-paid work. Of 473 occupations the state publishes figures for, skincare specialists ranks 355. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where West Virginia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $38,030 you keep $31,756, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,374 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $41,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- West Virginia's $38,030 median for skincare specialists places it 43 of 49 states, about 16.1% 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.
- Against every occupation West Virginia reports, skincare specialists ranks 355 of 473, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and West Virginia income tax, retained pay for skincare specialists on $38,030 is $31,756. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,374 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 $41,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Skincare Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $25,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,550 |
| This salary | $38,030 |
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 | $31,756 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,737 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,685 |
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 | $36,809 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,038 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,030 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $25,650 and the ninetieth is $60,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $31,756, from $38,030, 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 355 of 473 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $35,374, the adjusted value of that $38,030 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 355 of 473 locally.
- The West Virginia median of $38,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $25,650 to $60,550. 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 $31,756 from $38,030. 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 355 of 473 locally.
- This $35,374 adjusted figure, worked from $38,030, 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 355 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 355 of 473 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $41,720 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $25,650 at the bottom tenth to $60,550 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $35,374 in national terms.
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 $31,756 of this wage survives to your account.
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 49 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 $41,720. 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 ($25,650) and the ninetieth ($60,550) 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 $35,374 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 $31,756 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.