Carpenters in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,782
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$9,898
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,290
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
$52,680
Kept after tax
$42,782
Worth in national money
$47,290
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for carpenters is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $52,680. That is 35 of 51 states, and about 13.04% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 260 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $52,680 you keep $42,782 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $47,290 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $54,820, since top earners drag the number up.
- For carpenters, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $52,680, ranking 35 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 13.04%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Carpenters ranks 260 of 491 occupations in Kentucky by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $42,782 after the full tax stack, from $52,680. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $47,290 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $54,820 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Carpenters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,960 |
| This salary | $52,680 |
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 | $42,782 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,508 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,488 |
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 | $50,532 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,799 |
| 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 carpenters in Kentucky earn under $52,680 and half over. The published range runs $36,760 at the tenth percentile to $72,960 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $42,782 take-home in Kentucky comes from $52,680. 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 260 of 491.
- Two cautions on $47,290, the adjusted value of that $52,680 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 260 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for carpenters in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,760 to $72,960; 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 $42,782, from $52,680, 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 260 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 51 for it.
- This $47,290 adjusted figure, worked from $52,680, 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 260 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 260 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $54,820, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,760 at the bottom tenth to $72,960 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $47,290 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $42,782 remains.
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 $54,820. 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 ($36,760 to $72,960) 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 $47,290 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 $42,782 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.