Beckley, WV

Across all occupations in the Beckley, WV metropolitan area, the median wage is $41,850 a year ($20.12 an hour) and the mean $52,300, May 2025. That median is −18% against the US median of $50,980 and −8% against West Virginia's $45,300. BLS counts 43,080 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is physicians, all other; the largest is home health and personal care aides.

All occupations: Beckley, WV vs West Virginia and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Beckley, WV area, West Virginia and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Beckley, WV	Hourly	$11.24	$14.29	$20.12	$29.47	$42.60	$25.14	43,080
Beckley, WV	Annual	$23,370	$29,730	$41,850	$61,290	$88,610	$52,300	43,080
West Virginia	Hourly	$12.53	$15.16	$21.78	$31.22	$47.22	$27.15	701,610
West Virginia	Annual	$26,070	$31,530	$45,300	$64,940	$98,220	$56,470	701,610
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

196 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profile: West Virginia. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Beckley, WV

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Physicians, All Other	$281,110	$135.15	100
2	Dentists, General	$199,360	$95.85	40
3	Industrial Production Managers	$134,150	$64.50	40
4	Pharmacists	$133,250	$64.06	150
5	Physician Assistants	$131,750	$63.34	100
6	Chief Executives	$131,040	$63.00	80
7	Computer and Information Systems Managers in West Virginia	$125,600	$60.39	30
8	Nurse Practitioners	$124,790	$60.00	200
9	Electrical Engineers	$123,450	$59.35	40
10	Financial Managers in West Virginia	$115,130	$55.35	150
11	Education Administrators, All Other	$112,400	$54.04	40
12	Medical and Health Services Managers	$106,320	$51.11	150
13	Computer Occupations, All Other	$103,520	$49.77	70
14	Software Developers in West Virginia	$100,840	$48.48	40
15	Facilities Managers	$100,780	$48.45	60
16	Managers, All Other in West Virginia	$98,080	$47.16	170
17	First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers in West Virginia	$97,250	$46.75	340
18	Physical Therapists	$95,970	$46.14	80
19	Management Analysts in West Virginia	$94,520	$45.44	80
20	Occupational Therapists	$93,820	$45.10	30

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Beckley, WV

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in West Virginia	1,550	36.07	1.30	$26,910
2	Retail Salespersons in West Virginia	1,410	32.84	1.31	$27,630
3	Registered Nurses in West Virginia	1,320	30.54	1.41	$78,680
4	Cashiers in West Virginia	1,230	28.44	1.43	$24,650
5	Cooks, Fast Food in West Virginia	1,170	27.27	6.61	$22,370
6	General and Operations Managers in West Virginia	900	20.88	0.93	$79,770
7	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in West Virginia	880	20.51	1.55	$51,340
8	Stockers and Order Fillers in West Virginia	840	19.46	1.07	$31,240
9	Waiters and Waitresses in West Virginia	650	15.14	1.04	$33,650
10	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in West Virginia	610	14.27	1.00	$29,170
11	Customer Service Representatives in West Virginia	600	13.83	0.83	$34,610
11	Office Clerks, General in West Virginia	600	14.01	0.88	$34,380
13	Nursing Assistants in West Virginia	590	13.65	1.46	$35,810
14	Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in West Virginia	570	13.13	1.33	$36,670
14	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in West Virginia	570	13.32	0.70	$36,080
16	First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers in West Virginia	560	13.11	1.82	$38,670
17	Substitute Teachers, Short-Term	500	11.50	3.41	$58,250
18	Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in West Virginia	490	11.38	2.06	$26,670
18	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in West Virginia	490	11.40	1.04	$39,350
20	Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators	480	11.05	3.59	$59,700

Most concentrated occupations in Beckley, WV

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Roof Bolters, Mining	313.48	190	4.35	$77,920
2	Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining	121.10	200	4.62	$74,130
3	Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers	80.38	140	3.14	$81,370
4	Continuous Mining Machine Operators	32.05	120	2.89	$64,270
5	Cooks, Fast Food in West Virginia	6.61	1,170	27.27	$22,370
6	Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	4.60	190	4.38	$35,360
7	Correctional Officers and Jailers	4.28	450	10.47	$53,140
8	Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators	3.59	480	11.05	$59,700
9	Financial Specialists, All Other	3.58	130	3.04	$81,470
10	Substitute Teachers, Short-Term	3.41	500	11.50	$58,250

Occupation groups in Beckley, WV

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$88,200	$103,340	2,280	52.82	0.74
Architecture and Engineering	$81,370	$89,850	440	10.27	0.61
Legal	$76,850	$81,350	160	3.82	0.45
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$75,230	$92,870	4,000	92.85	1.47
Computer and Mathematical	$72,840	$79,370	340	8.00	0.24
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$70,430	$78,690	390	9.02	0.95
Business and Financial Operations	$63,350	$71,010	1,680	38.99	0.58
Construction and Extraction	$60,350	$61,340	2,880	66.92	1.62
Educational Instruction and Library	$55,060	$52,430	2,530	58.75	1.00
Protective Service	$48,980	$46,250	1,460	33.93	1.40
Community and Social Service	$47,880	$51,760	910	21.09	1.23
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$45,640	$51,160	2,290	53.26	1.36
Production	$44,540	$48,010	1,260	29.22	0.53
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$37,400	$46,530	270	6.31	0.48
Office and Administrative Support	$37,330	$40,790	4,740	110.14	0.96
Transportation and Material Moving	$36,070	$41,730	3,560	82.54	0.94
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$35,140	$37,490	80	1.93	0.69
Healthcare Support	$30,430	$32,500	3,010	69.90	1.38
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$29,330	$31,600	1,560	36.31	1.24
Sales and Related	$29,050	$37,510	4,210	97.80	1.13
Personal Care and Service	$28,400	$32,150	760	17.72	0.85
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$27,000	$29,790	4,240	98.43	1.12

Every occupation in West Virginia, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 196 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Beckley, WV estimates (area 13220).

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Beckley, WV area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.