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.
Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.
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
What does the lower price level do to Charleston, WV wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Charleston, WV? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Charleston, WV? ▼
Which federal tables feed Charleston, WV's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Charleston, WV wage figures in a real decision
- Surgeons, All Other leads published medians in Charleston, WV at $619,320/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Surgeons, All Other
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $56,665 adjusts to about $63,872 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 88.7. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for WV before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
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.