Business Teachers, Postsecondary in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,521
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$17,619
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,109
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
$80,140
Kept after tax
$62,521
Worth in national money
$69,109
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $80,140. That is 41 of 51 states, and about 19.12% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within Kentucky this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 87 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $80,140 the take-home is $62,521; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $69,109 would nationally. The average comes to $96,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For business teachers, postsecondary, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $80,140, ranking 41 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.12%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation Kentucky publishes a median for, business teachers, postsecondary sits 87 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for business teachers, postsecondary in Kentucky, on $80,140, is $62,521 — equivalent to $69,109 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $96,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Business Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $175,390 |
| This salary | $80,140 |
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 | $62,521 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,208 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,004 |
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 | $76,320 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,769 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of business teachers, postsecondary in Kentucky earn under $80,140 and half over. The published range runs $39,430 at the tenth percentile to $175,390 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $62,521 take-home in Kentucky comes from $80,140. 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 87 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $69,109 uses one figure for the whole of Kentucky. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 87.
- Figures are distribution medians for business teachers, postsecondary in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,430 to $175,390; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $62,521, from $80,140, 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 87 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $69,109, worked from $80,140, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Kentucky address, on work sitting at 87 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 $96,250 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 $39,430 and the top tenth $175,390 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $69,109.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Kentucky's own levy, $62,521 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $96,250. 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 ($39,430) and the ninetieth ($175,390) 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 $69,109 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 $62,521 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.