Carpet Installers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,347
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$6,453
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,650
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
$37,800
Kept after tax
$31,347
Worth in national money
$34,650
State rank
41
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for carpet installers is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $37,800. That is 41 of 45 states, and about 24.91% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Kentucky publishes, carpet installers lands at 410. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,800 you keep $31,347 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,650 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,270, since top earners drag the number up.
- For carpet installers, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $37,800, ranking 41 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 24.91%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Kentucky, this work ranks 410 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $31,347 after the full tax stack, from $37,800. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,650 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,270 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Carpet Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,530 |
| This salary | $37,800 |
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 | $31,347 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,552 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,151 |
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 | $36,300 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,392 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,800 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,710 and the ninetieth is $61,530 — 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 $31,347, worked from $37,800. 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 410 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,650 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 410.
- The Kentucky median of $37,800 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,710 to $61,530. 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 $31,347, on $37,800 for work ranking 410 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 410 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,650, worked from $37,800, 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 410 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 $42,270, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $27,710 and the top tenth $61,530 — 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 $34,650 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 $31,347.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $42,270. 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 ($27,710) and the ninetieth ($61,530) 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 $34,650 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 $31,347 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.