Skip to content

An independent salary reference. Not affiliated with BLS or any U.S. government agency.

Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Communications Teachers, Postsecondary Salary: West Virginia vs Oregon

Communications Teachers, Postsecondary earn a median of $66,720 in West Virginia and $90,120 in Oregon. That is a nominal gap of $23,400 (-26.0%), with Oregon paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$66,720
West Virginia median
$74,550 after COL
$90,120
Oregon median
$87,190 after COL
-26.0%
Nominal gap
Oregon leads
-14.5%
Adjusted gap
Oregon leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Oregon pays $23,400 more per year than West Virginia for communications teachers, postsecondary, a gap of +26.0%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Oregon still comes out ahead, with roughly $12,640 of extra purchasing power (+14.5% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for communications teachers, postsecondary in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Communications Teachers, Postsecondary

West Virginia

Median salary
$66,720
Mean salary
$73,910
Employment
220
Location quotient
1.63
Jobs per 1,000
0.3
COL-adjusted median
$74,550
Regional Price Parity
89.5%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Communications Teachers, Postsecondary page for West Virginia →

Communications Teachers, Postsecondary

Oregon

Median salary
$90,120
Mean salary
$104,800
Employment
300
Location quotient
0.79
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$87,190
Regional Price Parity
103.4%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Communications Teachers, Postsecondary page for Oregon →

Related pages

Keep digging into communications teachers, postsecondary from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.