Typical comp shape
Data scientists usually earn rsu. Common employers include Meta, Netflix, Uber.
What West Virginia changes
In West Virginia, every RSU vest, NSO exercise, and ESPP purchase carries 4.82% state tax on top of federal. For a senior data scientist with $300k+ of equity income, the state layer routinely adds $25-45k to the annual bill.
Planning cadence
For a data scientist in West Virginia, the three planning windows are: after each RSU vest (withholding check and sell-vs-hold), before any ISO exercise (AMT model at federal only), and in Q4 (estimated tax top-up to clear the safe harbor).