Living in West Virginia, working in Pennsylvania
Reciprocal agreement · tax year 2026
You pay West Virginia
$2,317
on a seventy-thousand wage
Pennsylvania would want
$2,149
The agreement is worth
$0
in money — the gain is one return, not two
File this
REV-419
with your employer
What the agreement does for you
- For West Virginia residents working in Pennsylvania, the saving is in effort rather than money. Home takes $2,317 on seventy thousand dollars; Pennsylvania would have taken $2,149, which is less. Either way the total lands at the home figure. The agreement just stops the wrong state taking money out of your pay all year and making you ask for it back.
- It does not stay the same as you earn more. On forty-five thousand dollars the West Virginia bill is $1,233; on a hundred thousand it is $3,691. Pennsylvania would have charged $3,070 at that higher wage. The two states pull apart as the salary rises, which is why this matters more to a senior job than a starter one.
- The agreement only works if you claim it. As a West Virginia resident, give your employer the exemption certificate for Pennsylvania, and expect to sign a fresh one most years. Without it on file, Pennsylvania takes tax from every paycheck. Then you must file there to get it back.
- The benefit on this pairing is compliance relief rather than a lower bill. West Virginia charges $2,317 on seventy thousand dollars where Pennsylvania would charge $2,149; the home charge being larger, a resident credit would have produced the same total unaided. ⭐ What the agreement buys is the removal of a nonresident filing obligation and of a year of withholding by the wrong jurisdiction.
- The differential is income-dependent rather than fixed. West Virginia's liability runs $1,233 at forty-five thousand dollars and $3,691 at one hundred thousand, against $3,070 in Pennsylvania at the upper figure. Where one state applies a flat rate and the other a graduated schedule the gap widens or narrows monotonically with income, so a single-salary comparison understates how much the pairing matters across a career.
- Reciprocity operates by employee election rather than automatically. The exemption certificate must be lodged with the employer and is generally renewable each year; absent it, Pennsylvania withholding continues and a nonresident return becomes necessary to recover it. ⚠️ Employers do not apply the agreement on the basis of a home address alone, so a commuter who never files the certificate obtains none of the benefit while remaining fully eligible for it.
What lands in your account
A $75,000 salary
Filing as
Paid
$2,271per paycheck
| Take-home, year | $59,047 |
|---|---|
| Tax, year | $15,953 |
| Share of pay taxed | 21.27% |
This is an average rate across all your pay — not the rate on your next dollar.
West Virginia against Pennsylvania
A $75,000 salary
Compare with
−$4,964a year in Pennsylvania, once local prices are leveled
| Measure | West Virginia | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|---|
| Take-home pay | $59,047 | $59,290 |
| Worth after local prices | $65,774 | $60,810 |
| Share of pay taxed | 21.27% | 20.95% |
| State sales tax | 6% | 6% |
| Groceries exempt here | Yes | Yes |
| Clothing exempt at $100 | No | Yes |
| Property tax rate | 0.53% | 1.3% |
| Price level | 89.8 | 97.5 |
| Housing prices | 56.1 | 85.8 |
| Fuel tax | 20.5¢ | 57.6¢ |
| Tobacco tax | $1.20 | $2.60 |
City income tax excluded. Sales-tax row: state-only. Exemptions: West Virginia, Statewide average; Pennsylvania, Statewide average. Clothing: one $100 item; higher prices can change tax.
What you would need there
A $75,000 salary
Moving to
$82,193in Pennsylvania, for the same life
| To match take-home only | $74,638 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,193 |
| Prices in Pennsylvania | 98 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
What each state would charge, across the ladder
Reference wages for a single filer, not a claim about anyone's salary. The last column is the difference the agreement actually removes — which is the gap between the two states, not Pennsylvania's whole charge.
| Wage | West Virginia charges | Pennsylvania would charge | Agreement is worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $1,233 | $1,382 | $148 |
| $70,000 | $2,317 | $2,149 | $0 |
| $100,000 | $3,691 | $3,070 | $0 |
What this page cannot tell you
- This covers wages from a job. It does not cover self-employment, rent or investment income — those follow the ordinary rules for Pennsylvania.
- ⚠️ And it is a deal between two states. City and county taxes are not part of it, and several of these states have them.
- Every agreement in this dataset applies to wages and salaries only. Business, rental, gain and investment income sourced to Pennsylvania remains taxable there under ordinary nonresident rules, and a commuter with such income may still owe a Pennsylvania return notwithstanding the agreement.
- ⚠️ Reciprocity binds the state layer only and commonly does NOT extend to municipal or county income taxes — Pennsylvania's local earned income tax is the standard example, remaining payable at the place of employment despite the state-level agreement. Local liabilities are excluded from every figure on this page.