Waiters and Waitresses in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,332
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$8,428
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,061
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in 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
$44,760
Kept after tax
$36,332
Worth in national money
$36,061
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for waiters and waitresses. The middle earner takes $44,760, which ranks 9 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 27.05% above the national middle.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, waiters and waitresses lands at 380. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $44,760, tax leaves $36,332, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $36,061 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $46,680, since top earners drag the number up.
- Virginia ranks 9 of 51 states publishing a median for waiters and waitresses, at $44,760 — about 27.05% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Virginia, this work ranks 380 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for waiters and waitresses — median $44,760 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $36,332 retained, $36,061 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $46,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Waiters and Waitresses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,130 |
| 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
| Take-home in Virginia | $36,332 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,145 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,192 |
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 | $42,504 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,861 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,760 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,270 and the ninetieth is $74,130 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $36,332, 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 380 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $36,061 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 380.
- The Virginia median of $44,760 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,270 to $74,130. 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 Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,332 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 380 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,061, 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 Virginia address, on work sitting at 380 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $46,680, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $28,270 at the bottom tenth to $74,130 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $36,061 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $36,332 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Virginia is $46,680. 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 ($28,270) and the ninetieth ($74,130) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $36,061 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $36,332 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and 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.