Urban and Regional Planners in West Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,582
after federal, FICA and West Virginia tax
Tax takes
$11,808
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,231
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
$61,390
Kept after tax
$49,582
Worth in national money
$55,231
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for urban and regional planners is on the low side in West Virginia. The middle earner gets $61,390. That is 50 of 51 states, and about 31.27% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Urban and regional planners ranks 160 among 473 occupations West Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,390 you keep $49,582 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $55,231 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $67,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For urban and regional planners, West Virginia sits in the lower band at $61,390, ranking 50 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 31.27%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 160 of 473 in West Virginia places urban and regional planners 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 $49,582 after the full tax stack, from $61,390. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $55,231 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $67,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,110 |
| This salary | $61,390 |
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 | $49,582 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,507 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,227 |
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 | $58,995 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,693 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 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 $61,390. The published range is $47,250 up to $96,110, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind West Virginia's $49,582, worked from $61,390. 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 160 of 473.
- Two cautions on $55,231, the adjusted value of that $61,390 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 160 of 473 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for urban and regional planners in West Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,250 to $96,110. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The West Virginia take-home of $49,582, on $61,390 for work ranking 160 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 160 of 473 in the state.
- This $55,231 adjusted figure, worked from $61,390, 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 160 of 473 in the state. The occupation ranks 160 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 $67,660, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $47,250 and the top tenth $96,110 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $55,231 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and West Virginia's own levy, $49,582 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $67,660. 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 ($47,250) and the ninetieth ($96,110) 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 $55,231 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 $49,582 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.