On the ordinary retirement profile — $34,000 of Social Security and $61,000 of plan distributions — West Virginia takes $1,571 a year in state income tax.
That is the number people compare, and it is the smallest of three. Property tax adds about $1,508 on the state's $274,142 median home, and insurance another $2,465. The three together come to $5,544, placing West Virginia 5th of 50.
A note before you start. This is general education, not tax advice. Every West Virginia figure comes from this site's own fifty-state income-tax dataset and its retirement tax engine, computed for a single filer aged 70 unless stated otherwise; property tax, median home price and insurance figures come from the site's core state dataset. Rates are for tax year 2026. Property tax is assessed locally in most states, so the effective rate here is a statewide figure rather than your county's.
1. What West Virginia takes from retirement income
| Income stream | West Virginia tax |
|---|---|
| Social Security | $0 on $40,000 |
| 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), traditional IRA | $1,571 on the typical profile |
| Private employer pension | $1,106 on $50,000 |
| Public and federal government pension | $1,106 on $50,000 |
| Military retired pay | $0 on $50,000 |
On Social Security. Fully exempt for tax year 2026 — the phase-out is complete. West Virginia's decreasing modification for Social Security benefits reached 100% in tax year 2026, having run 35% in 2024 and 65% in 2025 for filers above the income thresholds. The structure is worth understanding because it explains why sources written before 2026 look contradictory: taxpayers with federal adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less (single) or $100,000 or less (joint) have received a 100% decreasing modification since tax year 2022, so lower-income West Virginia retirees have not paid tax on benefits for years. It was only filers above those thresholds who were phased in at 35%, then 65%, and now 100%. As of 2026 the threshold no longer changes the answer for anyone: benefits included in federal AGI are fully subtracted regardless of income. Recorded as 'exempt' rather than 'taxed-above-threshold' for exactly that reason — the thresholds are now vestigial.
On 401(k) and IRA distributions. Read this as a general senior modification, not a plan-specific one. West Virginia has no subtraction aimed at 401(k), 403(b), or IRA distributions as such; they are fully included in West Virginia taxable income. What older filers get is a decreasing modification of up to $8,000 of income received from any source, available to each taxpayer who is age 65 or older during any part of the taxable year OR who is permanently and totally disabled. It is per qualifying individual: on a joint return where both spouses qualify, up to $8,000 of each spouse's income may be deducted, hence the $16,000 recorded for married-joint. There is no income limit on the $8,000 modification. The modification is not indexed and has been $8,000 for many years, so it erodes in real terms.
2. The rule that decides your West Virginia bill
Three different answers and the spread is wide. (1) military: fully exempt. A military retiree may take a decreasing modification for the taxable amount of retirement income reported on the federal return received from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, with no dollar cap, no age condition, and no income limit; a Form 1099-R must be attached even if no withholding is reported. (2) public pensions, in two tiers. Any individual, regardless of age, may deduct up to $2,000 of benefits received from the West Virginia Teachers Retirement System, the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System, and federal retirement systems under 4 U.S.C. 111. Separately and far more generously, the total amount of any benefit, including survivorship annuities, received from any West Virginia state or local police, deputy sheriff's, or firefighter's retirement system may be deducted in full.
West Virginia allows neither a standard deduction nor itemized deductions. Taxable income is federal adjusted gross income adjusted by specific increasing and decreasing modifications, less personal exemptions at $2,000 each.
The state cut rates twice in quick succession. The 2026 schedule recorded here reflects a 5% across-the-board reduction enacted by S.B. 392 (2026), signed March 31, 2026, effective June 12, 2026 and applied retroactively to January 1, 2026, and codified at W. Va. Code 11-21-4j. Any bracket table showing 2.22%/2.96%/3.33%/4.44%/4.82%, or the older 3%-to-6.5% schedule, is superseded.
3. What West Virginia charges at three income levels
The same state, three retirements. All figures are for a single filer aged 70.
| Profile | Income | West Virginia tax | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modest | $24,000 Social Security + $31,000 distributions | $520 | 0.9% |
| Typical | $34,000 Social Security + $61,000 distributions | $1,571 | 1.6% |
| Affluent | $40,000 + $100,000 + $40,000 other | $5,156 | 2.9% |
The marginal rate at the typical profile is 4.2%. That is what an extra dollar of distribution costs — a larger number than the 1.6% effective rate, and the one that matters when deciding how much to withdraw.
A married couple with $48,000 of Social Security and $62,000 of distributions pays $1,191.
Run your own income against West Virginia and every other state4. Property tax, and why it lands harder in retirement
An effective rate of 0.6% on the state's $274,142 median home is about $1,508 a year.
For a retiree this is a harder cost than income tax, and the reason is structural: property tax is levied on the house, while retirement income falls. A bill sized to a working income arrives every year after the income has gone.
It is also assessed locally almost everywhere, so a statewide effective rate conceals real variation between counties. Treat the figure above as the state's shape rather than as your bill.
West Virginia does have a homestead provision, and it is the one lever on this line worth understanding.
West Virginia Code 11-6B-3 provides a homestead exemption from ad valorem property tax on the first $20,000 of assessed value for homeowners who are age 65 or older, or certified as permanently and totally disabled, and who have been a WV resident for the 2 consecutive calendar years before the tax year in which the exemption is claimed. Applies to a homestead used and occupied exclusively for residential purposes; owners already receiving a similar exemption in another state are ineligible. Apply through the county assessor's office.
Two things about homestead rules catch people out after a move. They almost always require the property to be your primary residence, which a snowbird splitting the year has to be able to demonstrate. And several states require an application to the county rather than granting it automatically — a benefit you qualify for and never claimed is worth nothing.
5. Insurance, the line nobody prices
Average home insurance in West Virginia: $2,465 a year — 24th cheapest of the fifty states.
This is the line almost no retirement comparison includes, and across the country it varies more than income tax does: from Hawaii's $900 to Florida's $8,375, a ninefold spread.
For a retiree it behaves like a second property tax. It rises independently of income, a fixed-income household absorbs the whole increase, and it is a condition of the mortgage if you still have one.
6. What retiring in West Virginia actually costs
Income tax on the typical retirement profile, plus property tax and insurance on each state's own median home. West Virginia is shown against its own neighbours in the ranking, and against the extremes.
| State | Income tax | Property tax | Insurance | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyoming | $0 | $2,083 | $1,900 | $3,983 |
| Nevada | $0 | $2,489 | $2,025 | $4,514 |
| South Carolina | $1,066 | $1,800 | $2,250 | $5,116 |
| Arizona | $1,131 | $2,152 | $2,135 | $5,418 |
| West Virginia | $1,571 | $1,508 | $2,465 | $5,544 |
| Delaware | $2,125 | $2,152 | $1,375 | $5,652 |
| Maine | $0 | $4,199 | $1,525 | $5,724 |
| Hawaii | $2,832 | $2,019 | $900 | $5,751 |
| Minnesota | $4,937 | $3,750 | $3,615 | $12,302 |
| Connecticut | $4,475 | $8,779 | $2,690 | $15,944 |
West Virginia comes to $5,544, 5th of 50.
Income tax is 28% of that total. It is the line every comparison leads with and, here, not the largest of the three.
One large caveat, and it matters. Each row uses that state's own median home, and those differ a great deal. So this compares the typical house in each state, not the same house in each state — buying below a state's median improves its figure materially.
7. The age that changes your West Virginia bill
The same $50,000 of plan distributions costs $1,444 at 60 and $1,106 at 70. That is an age trigger, and it is worth $338 a year to wait — or, put the other way, it is what retiring early costs you in West Virginia on top of everything else. Read this as a general senior modification, not a plan-specific one. West Virginia has no subtraction aimed at 401(k), 403(b), or IRA distributions as such; they are fully included in West Virginia taxable income. What older filers get is a decreasing modification of up to $8,000 of income received from any source, available to each taxpayer who is age 65 or older during any part of the taxable year OR who is permanently and totally disabled. It is per qualifying individual: on a joint return where both spouses qualify, up to $8,000 of each spouse's income may be deducted, hence the $16,000 recorded for married-joint. There is no income limit on the $8,000 modification. The modification is not indexed and has been $8,000 for many years, so it erodes in real terms. It also changes the withdrawal order. Someone retiring before the trigger age has a reason to draw on taxable or Roth money first and leave the pre-tax balance until the exclusion applies.
8. What a Roth conversion costs in West Virginia
Converting $50,000 to a Roth costs an extra $2,258 in West Virginia tax — 4.5 cents on the dollar.
| Converted | Extra West Virginia tax | Cost per dollar |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $2,258 | 4.5% |
| $100,000 | $4,548 | 4.5% |
These are computed, not read off the bracket table, which matters because a conversion large enough to be worth making usually leaves the bracket it started in.
The state's share is the part you can move. Convert in a year you are resident somewhere with no income tax and it is zero; convert here and it is 4.5%. The federal tax is due either way.
9. What part-time work costs here
$20,000 of part-time work costs an extra $884 in West Virginia tax — an effective 4.4% on the earnings.
Compare that with the 4.5% a Roth conversion costs. Earned income is the cheaper dollar here, which is unusual.
Two federal rules apply on top and neither depends on your state. Earnings can raise the taxable share of Social Security, and claiming before full retirement age exposes you to the federal earnings test.
10. The order to draw your accounts in
The order you draw accounts in is worth real money, and the right order depends on the state.
Before the age trigger, draw from taxable and Roth money first. West Virginia charges $1,444 on $50,000 of plan distributions at 60 and $1,106 at 70, so a dollar taken early costs more than the same dollar taken later.
After the trigger, the pre-tax balance becomes the cheap source and the order reverses.
Required minimum distributions overrule all of this from 73 onward. Once they begin you must take the calculated amount whether the order suits you or not, which is the argument for drawing down or converting the pre-tax balance in the years before.
11. Or move across the state line
For most people the real alternative to West Virginia is not Wyoming — it is the state on the other side of the line, near the same family, the same doctors and the same weather.
| State | Income tax | Property tax | Insurance | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | $1,571 | $1,508 | $2,465 | $5,544 | 5 |
| Ohio | $961 | $3,339 | $2,080 | $6,380 | 15 |
| Pennsylvania | $0 | $4,420 | $2,045 | $6,465 | 17 |
| Kentucky | $929 | $2,099 | $3,795 | $6,823 | 19 |
| Maryland | $603 | $4,264 | $2,845 | $7,712 | 27 |
| Virginia | $2,693 | $3,355 | $2,265 | $8,313 | 30 |
West Virginia is the cheapest of the group on these three lines, at $5,544. Crossing any of these borders costs money.
One thing this table cannot show is the county. Property tax is set locally, and the spread inside a single state is routinely wider than the gap between two neighbouring states. A border move to a cheaper state and an expensive county can leave you worse off.
12. If you are moving to West Virginia from somewhere else
The eight most populous states people leave, measured against West Virginia on the same three lines.
| Moving from | Their total | West Virginia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $9,520 | $5,544 | $3,976 cheaper |
| Texas | $9,745 | $5,544 | $4,201 cheaper |
| Florida | $11,690 | $5,544 | $6,146 cheaper |
| New York | $10,287 | $5,544 | $4,743 cheaper |
| Pennsylvania | $6,465 | $5,544 | $921 cheaper |
| Illinois | $8,391 | $5,544 | $2,847 cheaper |
| Ohio | $6,380 | $5,544 | $836 cheaper |
| Georgia | $6,033 | $5,544 | $489 cheaper |
West Virginia is cheaper than 8 of these eight. That is the case for the move, on these lines.
A move is not free, and this table does not price it. Transaction costs on both houses run to several per cent of the sale price, and at typical values that is often more than the first two or three years of the saving.
West Virginia charges a transfer tax on the purchase itself — 0.2%, customarily paid by the seller. On the state's $274,142 median home that is about $603, once, at the point of sale. Closing costs here run about 2% to 4.2% of the price — $5,483 to $11,514 on the median home, which is the real entry fee for the annual saving this article has been describing.
13. Military retired pay is treated differently
West Virginia exempts military retired pay while taxing an identical private pension $1,106.
Fourteen states do this. It is a deliberate policy of competing for military retirees, who often leave service in their forties with a pension and a second career ahead of them.
If your retirement income is a private employer pension, you are the category this state is least generous to — and the comparison that matters to you is not the one a military retiree would run.
14. Where these West Virginia figures are approximate
Every income tax figure above comes from this site's own West Virginia record, and that record notes its own limits. They are reproduced here rather than left in the dataset, because a reader who falls into one of these cases is being quoted a number that is wrong for them.
- Any calculator that applies a standard deduction to West Virginia will understate the tax.
None of this affects the property tax or insurance lines, which come from a separate dataset and are not modelled.
If you are in one of the cases above, treat the income tax figure as the shape rather than the amount and get the number from a preparer who can see your actual return.
15. What West Virginia does not exempt you from
The federal system, entirely. This is the commonest misunderstanding about state retirement taxation, and it is worth stating plainly.
Required minimum distributions still apply. The amount is federal — your prior-year balance divided by an IRS life expectancy factor — and identical in all fifty states. A state changes what the distribution costs you, not whether you must take it.
Social Security is still federally taxable, on the federal provisional-income calculation, whatever your state does with it.
IRMAA still applies, with its two-year lag. A large conversion or distribution raises a Medicare premium two years later regardless of address.
And capital gains are still federally taxed. What West Virginia adds on top is a separate question from what the federal system takes.
16. Establishing that you actually live here
Any state tax advantage is worth nothing until West Virginia is your domicile, and the state you left may disagree about when that happened.
High-tax states audit departing residents. The question is not whether you own a home here; it is whether you genuinely abandoned the old domicile. Days spent in each state, voter registration, vehicle registration, where your doctors are and where you claim a homestead all bear on it.
The snowbird case is the risky one. Splitting the year between two states while keeping a home in both is exactly the profile a residency audit is built for. If a plan depends on the saving, count the days from the first year rather than reconstructing them afterwards.
17. Who West Virginia actually suits
A military retiree, whose pension is exempt here while a private one is not.
It suits an affluent retiree least. At the affluent profile the bill is $5,156, and whatever exclusion helps a modest income has stopped helping by then.
18. What to check before you decide
Get your county's actual property tax rate, not the state average. Property tax is levied locally almost everywhere, and the spread inside a state is often wider than the spread between states.
Get a real insurance quote on a real address. $2,465 is the state average; construction, roof age and exposure move it a long way.
Work out your own income tax rather than using the profile above. $95,000 split one way is not $95,000 split another, and in West Virginia the mix between Social Security and distributions changes the answer.
And check what your current state actually charges you before assuming it is worse. On these three lines the ranking surprises people in both directions.
Frequently asked questions
Does West Virginia tax Social Security? No. Fully exempt for tax year 2026 — the phase-out is complete. West Virginia's decreasing modification for Social Security benefits reached 100% in tax year 2026, having run 35% in 2024 and 65% in 2025 for filers above the income thresholds. The structure is worth understanding because it explains why sources written before 2026 look contradictory: taxpayers with federal adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less (single) or $100,000 or less (joint) have received a 100% decreasing modification since tax year 2022, so lower-income West Virginia retirees have not paid tax on benefits for years. It was only filers above those thresholds who were phased in at 35%, then 65%, and now 100%.
Does West Virginia tax 401(k) or IRA withdrawals? Read this as a general senior modification, not a plan-specific one. West Virginia has no subtraction aimed at 401(k), 403(b), or IRA distributions as such; they are fully included in West Virginia taxable income. What older filers get is a decreasing modification of up to $8,000 of income received from any source, available to each taxpayer who is age 65 or older during any part of the taxable year OR who is permanently and totally disabled. It is per qualifying individual: on a joint return where both spouses qualify, up to $8,000 of each spouse's income may be deducted, hence the $16,000 recorded for married-joint.
What about pensions — private, government, or military? A $50,000 pension costs $1,106 if private, $1,106 if a government pension, and $0 if military retired pay. Those differences are the state's own policy, not an accident of the arithmetic.
What does retiring in West Virginia actually cost? Income tax of $1,571 on the typical profile, plus about $1,508 of property tax and $2,465 of insurance on the median home — $5,544, which is 5th of 50.
Is West Virginia a cheap state to retire in? On these three lines it ranks 5th of 50. Whether that makes it cheap for you depends far more on the house than on the tax code.
Is there an age at which the tax falls? Yes. The same $50,000 of plan distributions costs $1,444 at 60 and $1,106 at 70.
What does a Roth conversion cost in West Virginia? An extra $2,258 in state tax on $50,000 converted, and $4,548 on $100,000. That is 4.5% of the amount converted, on top of the federal tax.
Does part-time work get taxed differently from my 401(k) withdrawals? $20,000 of part-time earnings costs $884 in state tax, an effective 4.4%.
Would a neighbouring state be cheaper than West Virginia? No — West Virginia is the cheapest of itself and its neighbours on these three lines, at $5,544.
Do required minimum distributions change if I move here? No. The required amount is a federal calculation and identical in every state. What changes is what the distribution costs once taken.
Does this article include local income tax? No local income tax applies to retirement income in West Virginia on the figures used here.
Will West Virginia's treatment still apply in ten years? State legislatures revise retirement taxation regularly — several states have changed theirs in the past three years. Figures here are for tax year 2026 and are worth re-checking before a move.
What to do next
Two numbers decide this and neither is the one in the headline: your county's actual property tax rate, and a real insurance quote on a real address.
- Retirement state tax calculator — what any state charges on your income, cited per state
- RMD calculator — the distribution you must take, which no state changes
- Home insurance premium estimator — the line this article says decides it
- The Relocation Tax Playbook — establishing domicile, and the states that contest it