Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,796
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,094
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,672
Kentucky costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kentucky — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$44,890
Kept after tax
$36,796
Worth in national money
$40,672
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays this job a middle wage of $44,890, 48 of 51 states and about 11.32% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 350 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $44,890 you keep $36,796 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,672 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $47,990, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky's $44,890 median for automotive service technicians and mechanics places it 48 of 51 states, about 11.32% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 350 of 491 in Kentucky places automotive service technicians and mechanics in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $36,796 after the full tax stack, from $44,890. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,672 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,990 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,910 |
| This salary | $44,890 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Kentucky | $36,796 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,249 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,311 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $43,081 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,586 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,890 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,210 and the ninetieth is $73,910 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $36,796 take-home in Kentucky comes from $44,890. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 350 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,672, the adjusted value of that $44,890 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 350 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $44,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,210 to $73,910. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $36,796, from $44,890, assumes a single Kentucky filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 350 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $40,672 — the adjusted value of that $44,890 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 350 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $47,990 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $30,210 and the top tenth $73,910 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kentucky is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $40,672 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Kentucky then takes its own share, leaving $36,796.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Kentucky is $47,990. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($30,210) and the ninetieth ($73,910) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kentucky's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $40,672 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $36,796 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kentucky income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.