Receptionists and information clerks in West Virginia — the federal SOC 43-4171 occupation, which covers every industry, not veterinary practices alone — earned a median annual wage of $31,920 in the May 2025 estimates.
That is $6,090, or 16%, below the national median of $38,010, and 50th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median.
Every percentile sits below its national counterpart, and the middle of the distribution is more compressed than the national one.
What these figures cover
10th percentile
$23,690
25th percentile
$28,230
75th percentile
$36,880
90th percentile
$42,740
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — West Virginia, SOC 43-4171 (Receptionists and Information Clerks). Retrieved 2026-09-16 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
The West Virginia median is below the national median by 16%. Among the 51 jurisdictions (states plus DC) where BLS publishes a Receptionists and Information Clerks (SOC 43-4171) median for May 2025, it ranks 50th, and 38th by estimated employment.
Differences are whole percentages, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
Every published West Virginia percentile sits below its national counterpart.
In dollar terms the gap is smallest at the 10th percentile, $23,690 against $28,760 ($5,070), and largest at the 75th, $36,880 against $45,130 ($8,250).
Proportionally, the 10th and 75th percentiles are both 18% below their national figures, the 25th is 17% below, and the 90th percentile, $42,740 against $49,950, shows the narrowest gap at 14%.
The median, $31,920, sits $6,090, or 16%, below the national $38,010.
Half of the state's receptionists and information clerks earned between $28,230 and $36,880, a band $8,650 wide against the national $11,170.
The narrowing is not even: the median-to-75th segment is $4,960 here against $7,120 nationally, while the 25th-to-median segment, $3,690, is only slightly narrower than the national $4,050.
The full 10th-to-90th span is $19,050 against a national $21,190, and its top segment runs wider — $5,860 from the 75th to the 90th percentile against $4,820 nationally.
OEWS does not publish causes, and this row counts every industry, so the shape says nothing about veterinary employers in particular.
The West Virginia hourly median is $15.34, against $18.27 nationally — $2.93 less, the same 16% gap as the annual median.
The data set carries hourly pay at the median only, so this is the figure to hold an hourly posting against.
Before comparing a posted rate with the annual percentiles, ask how many hours a week the role is scheduled.
BLS estimates 5,470 receptionists and information clerks were employed in West Virginia, 38th among the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for the occupation.
That is a count across every industry — hotels, offices, clinics and every other employer — so it does not say how many work in veterinary settings, and it is a headcount of people in jobs, not a count of openings.
In the same release, veterinary technologists and technicians in West Virginia have a median of $37,700 — $5,780, or 18%, more than the all-industry receptionist median on this page.
Hourly, the technician median is $18.13 against $15.34, $2.79 more.
That comparison sets a veterinary occupation against an all-industry one, so it is context for someone weighing a move into technician work, not a measure of what a veterinary front desk pays.
Same release, same state: veterinary technologists and technicians (SOC 29-2056) in West Virginia have a median of $37,700 ($18.13/hr) — $5,780 above the receptionists and information clerks median shown on this page. Vet tech salary in West Virginia →
For receptionists and information clerks across all industries in West Virginia, the May 2025 BLS median annual wage is $31,920, or $15.34 an hour.
No federal wage series isolates veterinary receptionists, so this figure is not veterinary-specific.
The national median for the same occupation is $38,010, and West Virginia sits $6,090, or 16%, below it.
The West Virginia 90th percentile is $42,740: one in ten receptionists and information clerks counted across all industries earned more.
Nationally the 90th percentile is $49,950, so the state figure is $7,210, or 14%, lower — proportionally the narrowest gap in the state's distribution, though in dollar terms the 10th percentile's $5,070 gap is the smallest.
It is an all-industry figure, not a ceiling for any one type of employer.
In the same BLS release, veterinary technologists and technicians in West Virginia have a median of $37,700 — $5,780, or 18%, above the $31,920 median for receptionists and information clerks across all industries.
The technician median is 1.2 times the receptionist figure.
The two rows describe different occupations, and only one of them is veterinary-specific, so treat the gap as context for a career decision rather than a promised raise.
BLS estimates 5,470 receptionists and information clerks were employed in West Virginia across all industries, 38th among the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for the occupation.
The estimate does not say how many work in veterinary settings — BLS publishes no state figure for that — and it is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of vacancies.
The 10th percentile for receptionists and information clerks across all industries in West Virginia is $23,690, and the 25th percentile is $28,230 — 18% and 17% below the national figures of $28,760 and $33,960.
These are all-industry figures for the whole occupation, so they describe every kind of employer rather than any one workplace.
Sources
Wage figures: BLS OEWS May 2025 state and national estimates, SOC 43-4171, retrieved 2026-09-16. Page last updated 2026-09-24.