Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,876
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$9,324
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,183
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
$50,200
Kept after tax
$40,876
Worth in national money
$45,183
State rank
37
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 $50,200. That is 37 of 51 states, and about 11.96% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 271 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 $50,200 you keep $40,876 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $45,183 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,470, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cement masons and concrete finishers, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $50,200, ranking 37 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 11.96%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Cement masons and concrete finishers ranks 271 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 $40,876 after the full tax stack, from $50,200. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,183 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,470 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,530 |
| This salary | $50,200 |
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 | $40,876 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,516 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,431 |
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 | $48,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,731 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kentucky earn less than $50,200. The published range is $37,490 up to $67,530, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $40,876 take-home in Kentucky comes from $50,200. 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 271 of 491.
- Two cautions on $45,183, the adjusted value of that $50,200 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 271 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for cement masons and concrete finishers in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,490 to $67,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $40,876, from $50,200, 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 271 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 51 for it.
- This $45,183 adjusted figure, worked from $50,200, 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 271 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 271 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 $52,470 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,490 and the top tenth $67,530, so most people doing this work in Kentucky sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $45,183.
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 $40,876.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $52,470. 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 ($37,490 to $67,530) 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 $45,183 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 $40,876 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.