Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,612
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$16,768
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,518
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
$77,380
Kept after tax
$60,612
Worth in national money
$67,518
State rank
34
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays this job a middle wage of $77,380, 34 of 46 states and about 8.2% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 473 occupations West Virginia reports, this job comes in at 87 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $77,380 you keep $60,612 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,518 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $80,160, since top earners drag the number up.
- West Virginia's $77,380 median for sociology teachers, postsecondary places it 34 of 46 states, about 8.2% 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.
- Sociology teachers, postsecondary ranks 87 of 473 occupations by median in West Virginia, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in West Virginia is $60,612 after the full tax stack, from $77,380. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,518 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $80,160 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,810 |
| This salary | $77,380 |
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 | $60,612 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,267 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,412 |
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 | $73,606 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,331 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,380 as a midpoint for West Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,890 and the ninetieth is $132,810 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In West Virginia the take-home figure of $60,612, from $77,380, 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 87 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 $67,518 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 87.
- The West Virginia median of $77,380 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,890 to $132,810. 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 $60,612 from $77,380. 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 87 of 473 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $67,518, worked from $77,380, 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 87 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 $80,160, 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 $52,890 at the bottom tenth to $132,810 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $67,518.
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 $60,612 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $80,160. 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 ($52,890) and the ninetieth ($132,810) 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 $67,518 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 $60,612 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.