Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,089
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,091
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,739
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
$59,180
Kept after tax
$47,089
Worth in national money
$46,739
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays this job around $59,180 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Virginia reports figures for, this is number 254.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $59,180, tax leaves $47,089, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $46,739 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $60,410, since top earners drag the number up.
- For welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers the Virginia median is $59,180, ranking 19 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Virginia's occupational distribution, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers sits at 254 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers — median $59,180 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $47,089 retained, $46,739 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $60,410 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,630 |
| This salary | $59,180 |
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 | $47,089 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,731 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,438 |
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 | $55,892 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,367 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $59,180. The published range is $42,520 up to $79,630, 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 Virginia's $47,089, worked from $59,180. 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 254 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,739 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 254.
- Reported values are medians; for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,520 to $79,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $47,089, on $59,180 for work ranking 254 of 489 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 254 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,739, worked from $59,180, 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 254 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $42,520 at the tenth percentile, $79,630 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $46,739 of national purchasing power.
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 $47,089 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($42,520 to $79,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
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 $46,739 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 $47,089 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.