Travel Agents in West Virginia

A bright independent shop with household goods on wooden shelves.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$36,922

after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax

Tax takes

$7,838

17.5% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$41,128

West Virginia costs less than average

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

$44,760

Kept after tax

$36,922

Worth in national money

$41,128

State rank

42

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for travel agents is on the low side in West Virginia. The middle earner gets $44,760. That is 42 of 49 states, and about 10.77% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Against other work in West Virginia, this sits in the middle: 299 of 473 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $44,760 you keep $36,922 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,128 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $42,340.
  • For travel agents, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $44,760, ranking 42 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 10.77%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Travel agents ranks 299 of 473 occupations in West Virginia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
  • Retained pay in West Virginia is $36,922 after the full tax stack, from $44,760. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,128 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,340 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

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Pay band: Travel Agents

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$29,130
Half earn under$44,760
Top tenth earn over$50,820
This salary$44,760

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

Compare with
+$1,223take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in West Virginia$36,922
Take-home in Texas$38,145
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,875

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

Moving to
$0$47,027
$47,027in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$43,238
Raise you would need+$2,267
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in West Virginia earn less than $44,760. The published range is $29,130 up to $50,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • In West Virginia the take-home figure of $36,922, from $44,760, 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 299 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 $41,128 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 299.
  • Reported values are medians; for travel agents in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,130 to $50,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Take-home for West Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,922 from $44,760. 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 299 of 473 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,128, worked from $44,760, 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 299 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 $42,340, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $29,130 at the bottom tenth to $50,820 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

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 $41,128 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 $36,922 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 $42,340. 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 ($29,130 to $50,820) 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 $41,128 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 $36,922 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.