Tax Preparers in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,096
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$5,784
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,525
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
$35,880
Kept after tax
$30,096
Worth in national money
$33,525
State rank
45
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. West Virginia pays tax preparers a middle wage of $35,880, 45 of 48 states and about 34.67% 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, tax preparers ranks 387. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- West Virginia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,880 the take-home is $30,096; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $33,525 would nationally. The average comes to $40,320, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- West Virginia's $35,880 median for tax preparers places it 45 of 48 states, about 34.67% 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, tax preparers ranks 387 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.
- Post-tax income for tax preparers in West Virginia, on $35,880, is $30,096 — equivalent to $33,525 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $40,320 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,760 |
| This salary | $35,880 |
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 | $30,096 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,010 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,614 |
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 | $34,744 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,952 |
| 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 tax preparers in West Virginia earn under $35,880 and half over. The published range runs $21,880 at the tenth percentile to $63,760 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 $30,096, worked from $35,880. 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 387 of 473.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,525 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 387.
- Figures are distribution medians for tax preparers in West Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $21,880 to $63,760; 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 $30,096, on $35,880 for work ranking 387 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 387 of 473 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,525, worked from $35,880, 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 387 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 $40,320 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $21,880, the highest tenth $63,760, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $33,525 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 $30,096 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $40,320. 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 ($21,880) and the ninetieth ($63,760) 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 $33,525 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 $30,096 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.