Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,635
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$10,155
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,233
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
$53,790
Kept after tax
$43,635
Worth in national money
$48,233
State rank
29
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kentucky pays this job around $53,790 at the midpoint, 29 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 253 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $53,790 the take-home is $43,635; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $48,233 would nationally. The average comes to $55,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For camera operators, television, video, and film the Kentucky median is $53,790, ranking 29 of 46 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 253 of 491 in Kentucky places camera operators, television, video, and film 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.
- Post-tax income for camera operators, television, video, and film in Kentucky, on $53,790, is $43,635 — equivalent to $48,233 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 $55,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,480 |
| This salary | $53,790 |
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 | $43,635 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,400 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,513 |
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 | $51,593 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,829 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,790 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,420 and the ninetieth is $70,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kentucky's $43,635, worked from $53,790. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 253 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,233, the adjusted value of that $53,790 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 253 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $53,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,420 to $70,480. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Kentucky take-home of $43,635, on $53,790 for work ranking 253 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 253 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $48,233 — the adjusted value of that $53,790 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 253 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $55,460, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,420 at the tenth percentile, $70,480 at the ninetieth.
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 $48,233 in national terms.
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 $43,635 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 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $55,460. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,420 to $70,480) 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 $48,233 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 $43,635 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.