Baggage Porters and Bellhops in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,454
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$6,486
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,769
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
$37,940
Kept after tax
$31,454
Worth in national money
$34,769
State rank
11
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for baggage porters and bellhops is strong here. Kentucky's middle earner gets $37,940, putting the state 11 of 48 — about 2.32% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 491 occupations Kentucky publishes, baggage porters and bellhops lands at 407. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,940 you keep $31,454, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,769 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $38,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For baggage porters and bellhops, Kentucky sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $37,940, ranking 11 of 48 and running about 2.32% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Kentucky, this work ranks 407 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for baggage porters and bellhops on $37,940 is $31,454. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,769 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $38,530 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Baggage Porters and Bellhops
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,690 |
| This salary | $37,940 |
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 | $31,454 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,665 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,154 |
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 | $36,434 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,396 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,940 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,410 and the ninetieth is $45,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $31,454, from $37,940, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 407 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $34,769, the adjusted value of that $37,940 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Kentucky. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 407 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $37,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,410 to $45,690. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,454 from $37,940. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 407 of 491 locally.
- This $34,769 adjusted figure, worked from $37,940, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 407 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 407 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,410 and the top tenth $45,690, so most people doing this work in Kentucky sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Kentucky sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,769 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Kentucky adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,454 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,410 to $45,690) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kentucky rather than a national figure.
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 $34,769 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 $31,454 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.