West Virginia Wind jobs: 550 employed (2024)
As of the 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report, West Virginia employs 550 people in the wind sector — about 0.4% of the U.S. total. That makes West Virginia the 39th-largest state for wind jobs nationwide.
Wind Jobs in West Virginia (2024)
National share: 0.41% of all U.S. wind jobs.
Typical Median Wage
1. Employment Landscape
West Virginia ranks 39th out of 51 U.S. states in wind employment. At 550 workers, the state sits below the 25th-ranked Arizona’s tally by 939 jobs, and trails the national leader Texas by 27,573 wind workers.
1.1 West Virginia’s position vs. the top 10 and median states
1.2 Share of U.S. total
The wind sector nationwide employs roughly 132,984 workers; West Virginia accounts for 550 of them.
1.3 Where West Virginia sits in its own mix
| Sector | Jobs (2024) | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Efficiency | 7,242 | #46 |
| Solar | 626 | #47 |
| Wind | 550 | #39 |
| Storage & Grid | 520 | #34 |
| Electric Vehicles | 342 | #39 |
| Hydropower | 194 | #36 |
| Clean Fuels | 40 | #48 |
1.4 Sub-sector breakdown in West Virginia
Every wind-related sub-category reported for West Virginia in the USEER workbook, ranked by employment.
2. Pay & Career Roles in West Virginia
West Virginia contributes 0.41% of the nation’s wind workforce. Within West Virginia’s own clean-energy economy, wind accounts for 5.8% of total clean-energy jobs (550 of 9,515 workers).
Cost-of-living in West Virginia is roughly 11.1% lower the U.S. average, so the state-adjusted median wage for wind roles in West Virginia is shown alongside the national BLS figure.
| Role | National median | West Virginia-adjusted | Job Zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind Energy Engineer | $100,940 | $89,736 | 4 |
| Wind Turbine Service Technician | $61,770 | $54,914 | 3 |
4. Hiring Difficulty & Industry Mix
West Virginia employers rate 28.1% of clean-energy hires as “very difficult” (plus 32.0% as “somewhat difficult”) — tighter than the ~22% national baseline. Combined, 60.1% of West Virginia’s clean-energy roles see some level of hiring friction.
4.1 Employer hiring difficulty
4.2 Jobs by NAICS industry group
| Industry (NAICS group) | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Construction | 32,187 |
| Mining and Extraction | 18,834 |
| Manufacturing | 12,217 |
| Trade | 8,016 |
| Utilities | 4,847 |
| Other Services | 4,175 |
| Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows | 3,436 |
| Professional Services | 2,120 |
| Agriculture and Forestry | 188 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Data source: U.S. Department of Energy — 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report (reflecting 2024 employment); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics; O*NET Occupation Database 29.1.
Last updated: April 2026.