Charleston, WV Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 88.7) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Charleston, WV moved from $45,170 in May 2024 to $45,830 in May 2025 (+1.5%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Charleston, WV sits -1.6 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Security Guards shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Charleston, WV
Security Guards publishes $20,800 here versus $38,020 nationally (-45.3%; 2,160metro-area jobs). Next is Cooks, Fast Food at $23,180 locally versus $30,890 nationally (-25.0%).
- Security Guards$20,800 in Charleston, WV sits 45.3% below the national Security Guards median of $38,020 (2,160 published local jobs).
- Cooks, Fast Food$23,180 in Charleston, WV sits 25.0% below the national Cooks, Fast Food median of $30,890 (2,230 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$83,190 in Charleston, WV sits 21.3% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,160 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$26,280 in Charleston, WV sits 20.1% below the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (2,170 published local jobs).
Security Guards and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Charleston, WV; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 16620 · Charleston, WV $57K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-LOW · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-LOW #305/528
- RPP-LOW 88.7
- OCC-MID 341 occs
- TOP-LEAD Surgeons, All… · $619K
- EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
- TREND-INLINE -1.6 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH State College, PA
- BOOK-FULL 332 rows · May 2025
Read with State College, PA (+$1 on published-row mean) · Salary vs. cost of living
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer — not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Charleston, WV
Where Charleston, WV already employs the upper wage tier
Financial Managers and Nurse Practitioners lead published employment inside Charleston, WV's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Financial Managers 450 jobs · $116,300
- 2. Nurse Practitioners 370 jobs · $129,260
- 3. Software Developers 350 jobs · $122,980
- 4. Pharmacists 340 jobs · $131,660
- 5. Medical and Health Services Managers 280 jobs · $125,470
- 6. Chief Executives 240 jobs · $161,540
- 7. Nurse Anesthetists 220 jobs · $280,250
- 8. Physician Assistants 190 jobs · $126,620
- 9. Physicians, All Other 180 jobs · $285,470
- 10. Industrial Engineers 160 jobs · $143,860
- 11. Physical Therapists 140 jobs · $103,760
- 12. Engineers, All Other 130 jobs · $119,900
- 13. Industrial Production Managers 110 jobs · $107,960
- 14. Family Medicine Physicians 90 jobs · $344,250
- 15. Human Resources Managers 80 jobs · $105,920
- 16. Architectural and Engineering Managers 70 jobs · $165,690
- 17. Dentists, General 70 jobs · $152,980
- 18. Computer Network Architects 70 jobs · $131,210
Occupations Tracked
341
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$56,665
employment-weighted, 332 complete rows
Top Salary
$619,320
Surgeons, All Other
Cost of Living
88.7
11% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Charleston, WV, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Financial Managers | $116,300 |
| 2 | Nurse Practitioners | $129,260 |
| 3 | Software Developers | $122,980 |
| 4 | Pharmacists | $131,660 |
| 5 | Medical and Health Services Managers | $125,470 |
| 6 | Chief Executives | $161,540 |
| 7 | Nurse Anesthetists | $280,250 |
| 8 | Physician Assistants | $126,620 |
| 9 | Physicians, All Other | $285,470 |
| 10 | Industrial Engineers | $143,860 |
| 11 | Physical Therapists | $103,760 |
| 12 | Engineers, All Other | $119,900 |
| 13 | Industrial Production Managers | $107,960 |
| 14 | Family Medicine Physicians | $344,250 |
| 15 | Human Resources Managers | $105,920 |
| 16 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $165,690 |
| 17 | Dentists, General | $152,980 |
| 18 | Computer Network Architects | $131,210 |
| 19 | Surgeons, All Other | $619,320 |
| 20 | Radiologists | $482,670 |
| 21 | Electrical Engineers | $129,250 |
| 22 | Veterinarians | $112,140 |
| 23 | Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates | $103,940 |
| 24 | Database Architects | $104,570 |
| 25 | Managers, All Other | $107,490 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Charleston, WV
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Security Guards | $20,800 |
| Demonstrators and Product Promoters | $21,990 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $22,380 |
| Driver/Sales Workers | $23,060 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $23,180 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $25,470 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $25,480 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $25,670 |
| Cashiers | $26,280 |
| Dishwashers | $26,440 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in WV
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside WV. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($56,665 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Related federal data
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.