The West Virginia all-occupations median was 11.1% below the U.S. all-occupations median in the same release. Registered Nurses had the largest published employment estimate among the 30 occupation rows shown on this hub, at 23,430.
Among those high-employment rows, Cooks, Fast Food had the highest published location quotient at 5.7. A location quotient above 1.00 means a larger share of local employment than the national share; it does not measure job quality or future demand.
Occupation detail
Largest published occupations in West Virginia
Sorted by published employment. Open a row for its local distribution, national comparison, and jobs.
Largest published occupation estimates by employment
Six high-employment rows from the bounded area summary. The table below keeps each full title and published field.
Registered Nurses: 23,430 jobs. Retail Salespersons: 19,050 jobs. Home Health and Perso...: 18,890 jobs. Cashiers: 17,360 jobs. Cooks, Fast Food: 16,490 jobs. General and Operation...: 15,300 jobs.
BEA's 2024 all-items price index for West Virginia was 89.5, or 10.5% below the national price level. Its housing index was 54.2.
National-price-dollar proxy
$50,616
WageScope divides the published all occupations median by the BEA all-items index. This is a price-level comparison, not take-home pay, a personal budget, or a quality-of-life score.
Wage period: BLS May 2025. Price period: BEA 2024. The releases describe different periods and are shown separately.
Price level in West Virginia; U.S. = 100
U.S. baseline: 100.0. All items: 89.5. Housing: 54.2.
Read the all-jobs wage, role mix, local job shares, price-level context, and survey limits as separate facts. Every value stays tied to BLS area 54.
Questions, answered
Wage data for West Virginia: common questions
What is the all-occupations median wage in West Virginia?
The May 2025 BLS OEWS release published an all-occupations median of $45,300 per year in West Virginia. It combines covered wage and salary jobs and is not a median for every individual occupation.
How many wage and salary jobs does BLS estimate in West Virginia?
BLS published an all-occupations employment estimate of 701,610 jobs for West Virginia. It is a survey estimate, not a current opening count.
What is the largest detailed occupation shown for West Virginia?
Registered Nurses is the largest detailed occupation in the bounded table on this page, with 23,430 estimated jobs and a published median of $80,130 per year.
Does the West Virginia wage data adjust for local prices?
From market data to your evidence
Tailor for a real Registered Nurses job, not a generic wage number.
Pick an eligible listing, then MeritLog can help you prepare from experience you have confirmed. WageScope never turns a BLS estimate into a qualification or résumé claim.
The May 2025 BLS OEWS estimate puts the all-occupations median in West Virginia at $45,300 per year. This is the middle wage across covered wage and salary jobs in the area. It is not the median for each job title. It is not one worker's pay. Use an occupation page when you need a role-level answer.
BLS lists 701,610 covered jobs in West Virginia. The all-occupations mean is $56,470 per year. Mean means add the wage values and split the total by the number of jobs behind the estimate. The median and mean can differ because the local wage mix is not even.
West Virginia's $45,300 all-occupations median is 11.1% below the U.S. all-occupations median of $50,980 on the same published median. This is a wage check on the same source period. It does not add local price levels, taxes, hours, benefits, or household needs.
Where West Virginia sits among states and territories
West Virginia ranks 49 of 54 among states and territories with a published annual all-occupations median. WageScope keeps the map type the same. It does not place a state, metro, and nonmetro row in one rank. The rank uses the May 2025 BLS median only.
A rank is a place in a sorted list. It is not a score. It does not say a place is good or bad. It does not show the size of the job base. West Virginia has 701,610 covered jobs, while another row near it can have a very different count.
The nearby rank rows give context without turning the list into a league table. Small gaps can move a place by several spots. A later BLS release can also change the order. Read the wage gap and the source date beside the rank. Do not use rank alone to make a move.
46. Alabama has an all-occupations median of $45,670 per year and 2,113,660 covered jobs. Its wage gap from West Virginia is $370.
47. Oklahoma has an all-occupations median of $45,600 per year and 1,707,680 covered jobs. Its wage gap from West Virginia is $300.
48. Louisiana has an all-occupations median of $45,520 per year and 1,934,900 covered jobs. Its wage gap from West Virginia is $220.
50. Arkansas has an all-occupations median of $43,630 per year and 1,303,630 covered jobs. Its wage gap from West Virginia is $1,670.
51. Virgin Islands (territory) has an all-occupations median of $42,870 per year and 32,090 covered jobs. Its wage gap from West Virginia is $2,430.
52. Mississippi has an all-occupations median of $40,120 per year and 1,163,030 covered jobs. Its wage gap from West Virginia is $5,180.
The largest detailed occupations shown for West Virginia
The role list is sorted by the BLS employment estimate. It shows detailed occupations from the bounded source table for West Virginia. The first row, Registered Nurses, has 23,430 estimated jobs. Its median is $80,130 per year.
Large roles shape the all-occupations wage mix, but they do not set it by themselves. A role with many jobs and a lower wage can pull the middle one way. A smaller role with a higher wage can move the mean. The all-occupations row is based on the whole covered job mix, not just the occupations shown in this bounded list.
Employment here means wage and salary jobs in the BLS survey scope. It does not mean people looking for work. It does not mean openings. It does not show how fast a role is changing. Use the current job cards only to inspect dated employer-title matches. Keep that view apart from this May 2025 job count.
1. Registered Nurses has 23,430 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $80,130 per year. Its location quotient is 1.54.
2. Retail Salespersons has 19,050 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $28,950 per year. Its location quotient is 1.08.
3. Home Health and Personal Care Aides has 18,890 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $28,010 per year. Its location quotient is 0.97.
Role pay range
How published medians differ inside West Virginia
The detailed roles shown for West Virginia do not share one pay level. General and Operations Managers has the highest published median in this bounded role set, at $82,500 per year. That does not make it the highest-paid role in every job or in every part of the area.
The list keeps each official SOC title tied to its own wage row. It does not blend fields, levels, or job posts. A role median can be above the $45,300 all-occupations median even when the role has few jobs. A large role can sit below that mark. Pay and job count answer different questions.
Use a role's own WageScope page before you compare places. That page shows the national spread, the same SOC code across areas, and the source limits. The area list is a starting map. It is not enough to set a pay target for one person or one listing.
1. General and Operations Managers has a published median of $82,500 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 15,300 jobs. Its local share is 0.97 times the national share.
2. Registered Nurses has a published median of $80,130 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 23,430 jobs. Its local share is 1.54 times the national share.
3. First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers has a published median of $80,060 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 5,380 jobs. Its local share is 1.47 times the national share.
Local share
Roles with a larger local share in West Virginia
Location quotient compares a role's share of jobs in West Virginia with that role's share across the nation. A value of 1 means the shares match. A value above 1 means the role takes a larger share of local jobs. A value below 1 means the share is smaller. The value does not show growth or open jobs.
Cooks, Fast Food has the highest published location quotient in this bounded set, at 5.7. The same row has 16,490 jobs and a median of $23,120 per year. Read all three fields together.
A high share can appear in a small job base. A large job count can appear with a share near 1. A high median can appear in either case. The three measures are not a single score. They help you ask three clear questions: how many jobs, how common the role is in the local mix, and what wage BLS published.
1. Cooks, Fast Food has a location quotient of 5.7 in West Virginia. BLS lists 16,490 jobs and a median of $23,120 per year.
2. Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators has a location quotient of 3.63 in West Virginia. BLS lists 7,830 jobs and a median of $51,300 per year.
3. Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses has a location quotient of 2.07 in West Virginia. BLS lists 6,050 jobs and a median of $55,360 per year.
Separate price view
What the BEA price level adds for West Virginia
BEA's 2024 all-items price index for West Virginia is 89.5. The U.S. level is 100. The local all-items level is 10.5% below that mark. This is a broad price comparison. It is not a personal budget.
The housing index is 54.2. The goods index is 96.5. Utilities are 92.2. Other services are 99.9. These parts can move in different ways. The all-items number joins them with BEA's method; WageScope does not pick its own weights.
The BLS wage period is May 2025. The BEA price period is 2024. WageScope shows both dates because the clocks differ. It can divide a wage by the all-items index for a clear national-price-dollar proxy. It does not call that result take-home pay, spending power for one home, or a place score.
The all-occupations employment RSE for West Virginia is 0%. The mean-wage RSE is 0.3%. RSE means relative standard error. It is a survey precision flag. A smaller value often means less sampling uncertainty. It is not an error bar for one person's wage.
The employment RSE belongs to the 701,610 job estimate. The mean-wage RSE belongs to the all-occupations mean. WageScope does not attach either field to a detailed role, the median, or a percentile. Each role row has its own published care marks when BLS supplies them.
Some BLS values are blank or top coded. Blank does not mean zero. A top code means the value is at least the shown bound. WageScope keeps those states in the role pages and tables. It does not fill a missing value from a peer role, past year, or nearby place.
Use West Virginia as a map, then choose one occupation
Start with the role that matches the work you mean. Official titles can sound broad. Open the role page and check its SOC code. Then compare the West Virginia row with the U.S. row on the same annual or hourly metric. Read the job count and location quotient beside the wage. Add the BEA price level only when the exact row is present.
Next, look at the wage spread. The median shows the middle. The 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles show more of the range. A posted job range can be compared with those marks as context, but it stays employer evidence. It never becomes part of the BLS estimate.
If the role-place row is missing, use the national role page or choose another official area. Do not guess. A clean missing state is more useful than a made-up number. It tells you what the source can and cannot answer.
Move from West Virginia wage data to one checked job
The area page does not treat every local job as the same. Choose an occupation first. WageScope can then use a strict employer-title match for that role. A place filter is used only when the BLS area has an exact approved match in the public place list. If that match is not safe, the page says so.
Each shown job keeps the employer, place, source, and seen date. The cards can change as the public catalog changes. They do not count toward this page's stable content gate. They do not change West Virginia's $45,300 all-occupations median. They do not prove that the employer uses the BLS title.
Open a listing before you tailor. Use facts from your own work that you can support. A wage value is not a skill, result, or duty. MeritLog can help shape confirmed work for the listing you chose. The public area page does not save the role, listing, place, or résumé on load.
The page does not say what one person in West Virginia earns. It does not promise a wage, job, move, or result. It does not call the all-occupations median a role wage. It does not turn rank 49 of 54 into a place score. It does not say why wages differ.
The BLS job count leaves out people who work for themselves and other work outside the survey scope. The current job cards are a separate set of public listings. Neither source shows all work. Neither source tells you the chance of getting hired. A missing value stays missing.
Use the page for a narrow task. See the May 2025 local wage picture. Choose one official occupation. Compare the same field across like places. Add the separate 2024 price level when it exists. Read a current employer-title match. Then make a résumé choice from work facts you have confirmed.
No. BLS wage estimates are nominal. Where an exact BEA Regional Price Parity row exists, WageScope shows that price-level context separately and labels its source period.
Are MeritLog job listings part of the government wage estimate?
No. Eligible live listings remain separate from BLS statistics. Their locations and posted pay do not change the official area or occupation rows.
4. Cashiers has 17,360 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $26,370 per year. Its location quotient is 1.25.
5. Cooks, Fast Food has 16,490 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $23,120 per year. Its location quotient is 5.7.
6. General and Operations Managers has 15,300 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $82,500 per year. Its location quotient is 0.97.
7. Stockers and Order Fillers has 12,520 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $34,510 per year. Its location quotient is 0.98.
8. Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers has 12,190 estimated jobs in West Virginia. Its published median is $49,480 per year. Its location quotient is 1.31.
4. Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education has a published median of $55,630 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 5,420 jobs. Its local share is 0.87 times the national share.
5. Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses has a published median of $55,360 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 6,050 jobs. Its local share is 2.07 times the national share.
6. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers has a published median of $53,660 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 6,900 jobs. Its local share is 1.07 times the national share.
7. Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators has a published median of $51,300 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 7,830 jobs. Its local share is 3.63 times the national share.
8. Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers has a published median of $49,480 per year in West Virginia. BLS lists 12,190 jobs. Its local share is 1.31 times the national share.
4. Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners has a location quotient of 1.57 in West Virginia. BLS lists 6,110 jobs and a median of $28,090 per year.
5. Registered Nurses has a location quotient of 1.54 in West Virginia. BLS lists 23,430 jobs and a median of $80,130 per year.
6. First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers has a location quotient of 1.47 in West Virginia. BLS lists 5,380 jobs and a median of $80,060 per year.
7. First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers has a location quotient of 1.47 in West Virginia. BLS lists 7,420 jobs and a median of $39,740 per year.
8. Nursing Assistants has a location quotient of 1.44 in West Virginia. BLS lists 9,390 jobs and a median of $36,720 per year.
Precise employer-title matches for Registered Nurses in West Virginia
Filtered through MeritLog's approved West Virginia place record and a strict employer-title rule. Listings are not classified by BLS and remain separate from BLS and BEA estimates.
