Retiring in West Virginia

Every figure below is sourced to West Virginia’s own publications and dated. Estimates only, and not tax advice.

Retirement tax by state

What your state actually takes from a 401(k) withdrawal, a pension, and Social Security — in dollars, not a yes/no list.

Brokerage account growth

Long-term index-fund growth after expense-ratio drag — and what your state takes from the gains at withdrawal.

Roth vs. Traditional

Decided on the two rates that actually govern it — yours now, and yours at withdrawal, in the state you'll retire in rather than the one you're in.

Contribution limit optimizer

2026 limits, employer match, the 60-63 super catch-up, and whether the Roth catch-up mandate applies to you.

Required minimum distribution

When your RMDs start under SECURE 2.0, how much this year's is, and what missing it costs.

Backdoor Roth pro-rata

What a backdoor Roth conversion would actually cost you in tax — the pro-rata rule most calculators only describe.

Self-directed IRA real estate (UDFI)

The tax a leveraged rental owes inside a self-directed IRA — computed at trust rates, not the rate you'd assume.

West Virginia at a glance

401(k) and IRA withdrawals
Partly excluded
From age 65.
Social Security
Not taxed
Top marginal rate
4.58%
The top of 5 graduated brackets.
Tax year
2026
Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.
  • 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. Any calculator that applies a standard deduction to West Virginia will understate the tax.
  • 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 Any bracket table showing 2.22%/2.96%/3.33%/4.44%/4.82%, or the older 3%-to-6.5% schedule, is superseded.
  • West Virginia has not enacted a state-facilitated auto-IRA employer mandate, so autoIraProgram is deliberately absent from this record rather than unresearched.