Virginia · BLS May 2025

How much do fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators make in Virginia?

Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia earn a median of $47,930 a year ($23.04 an hour), about $3,229 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 230 of these jobs in Virginia in May 2025.

Median pay · Virginia

$47,930A year, or $23 an hour.
Take-home a month$3,229After federal, state and FICA tax at 19.2%
Worth at national prices$47,407Prices here sit at 101.1 against 100
Against the nation13.6% belowNational median $55,490
What fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators earn in Virginia, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$29,640$14
25th percentile$35,000$17
MedianHalf earn more, half less$47,930$23
75th percentile$70,300$34
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$87,400$42
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$53,700$26

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in VirginiaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$47,930
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$23.04
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$3,229 a month at an effective rate of 19.2%.$38,750 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$47,407
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $55,490.13.6% below
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 0.77 against the nation's 1.00.230
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $47,930 in Virginia, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$47,930
$25,000$90,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$47,930
Net 81%
Fed 7%
VA 4%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$38,750After all taxes
Monthly deposit$3,229Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,490Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate19.2%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$3,572 / yr
Virginia state income tax$1,942 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$3,667 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $47,930 is worth in Virginia

Prices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national average of 100, so $47,930 earned here buys what $47,407 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 106.8 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Virginia takes in $93,170, so this occupation's median is 0.51 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 23% less concentrated in Virginia than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia

The gap between the ends is wide: the 90th percentile ($87,400) is 2.9 times the 10th ($29,640). The survey does not say who sits where in that range. It records no experience, shift or employer.

The median for this job is 0.5 times the median household income in Virginia ($93,170). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.

Common questions

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators pay in Virginia, answered

How much do fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators make in Virginia?

The median wage for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia is $47,930 a year, or $23.04 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators salary in Virginia?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia is $53,700 a year. The median is $47,930.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia?

The median hourly wage is $23.04. At a full-time year that lines up with about $47,930 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Virginia, the lowest-paid 10% of fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators earn under $29,640 a year and a quarter earn under $35,000 ($14.25 and $16.83 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia?

The overall salary range for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia spans from $29,640 for the bottom 10% to $87,400 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $35,000 and $70,300 a year, with the overall median at $47,930.

What is the take-home pay for fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in Virginia?

On the median wage of $47,930, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $38,750 a year, or roughly $3,229 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 19.2%.

Virginia takes $1,942 of it in state income tax.

How much does fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators make a month in Virginia?

On the median annual salary of $47,930, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,229 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,490 net.

Do fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators earn more in Virginia than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Virginia is 13.6% below the national median of $55,490.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $47,930 a good salary in Virginia?

It is 0.51 times the median household income of $93,170. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Virginia run at 101.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 106.8, so $47,930 here buys about what $47,407 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators earn in Virginia?

The top tenth earn $87,400 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $29,640.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Virginia someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators are there in Virginia?

The survey counted 230 of these jobs in Virginia for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 23% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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