How West Virginia taxes a paycheck
West Virginia cut its income tax by 21.25% across the board in 2023 (HB 2526), taking the top rate from 6.5% to 5.12%, then by a further 4% for 2025 under a revenue trigger, to 4.82%. For 2026 the five brackets are 2.22% on the first $10,000 of taxable income, 2.96% to $25,000, 3.33% to $40,000, 4.44% to $60,000 and 4.82% above, with the same thresholds for single and married filers. The trigger allows further cuts of up to 10% in years when revenue growth exceeds inflation, so 2027 could bring another.
There is no standard deduction; a $2,000 personal exemption per filer and per dependent is subtracted instead. Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg, Weirton and a few other cities charge a city service fee of $1 to $6 a week on people who work in the city, a flat amount rather than a percentage, which is withheld and is not included here. There are no percentage-based local income taxes.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in West Virginia?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in West Virginia pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $1,970 in West Virginia income tax, leaving roughly $48,430 a year or $1,863 every two weeks. The state share is 3.3% of gross; in 2022, before the cuts, the same salary paid about $2,780.
At $150,000 the tax is about $6,300, an effective rate of 4.2%. A married couple on $100,000 pays about $3,790, more than in most neighbouring states because the brackets are not doubled for joint filers.
West Virginia compared with its neighbours
West Virginia borders Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky. On a $60,000 single salary the state tax is about $1,970 in West Virginia, $870 in Ohio, $1,840 in Pennsylvania, $2,490 in Maryland, $2,640 in Virginia and $1,980 in Kentucky. West Virginia is in the middle on state tax, and it is the only one of the six without a percentage-based local income tax in its major cities.
Along the Ohio River, a Huntington worker at 4.82% plus a $5 weekly fee and a Cincinnati worker at Ohio's 2.75% plus the city's 1.8% pay similar totals; along the Potomac, West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle is markedly cheaper than Maryland once the county tax is counted.
Withholding forms and filing status in West Virginia
West Virginia employers withhold from Form WV/IT-104, on which employees claim exemptions at $2,000 each; the tables apply the five brackets after the exemptions. Because the brackets are the same for single and joint filers, a two-earner couple reaches 4.82% on a combined $60,000 of taxable income, and West Virginia allows married filing separately on the same return to avoid it; the calculator's married figure uses the joint schedule, so a couple who file separately pay less than it shows.
West Virginia has reciprocal agreements with Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, so residents of those states working in West Virginia pay only their home state, and West Virginia residents working in them pay only West Virginia. The city service fees are outside the agreements and apply to anyone working in the city.