Chemists in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,162
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$18,928
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,027
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
$84,090
Kept after tax
$65,162
Worth in national money
$72,027
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kentucky pays chemists around $84,090 at the midpoint, 32 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Kentucky. It ranks 72 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $84,090 you keep $65,162, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $72,027 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $86,740, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For chemists the Kentucky median is $84,090, ranking 32 of 51 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.
- Within Kentucky, chemists ranks 72 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for chemists on $84,090 is $65,162. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $72,027 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $86,740 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,060 |
| This salary | $84,090 |
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 | $65,162 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,987 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,064 |
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 | $80,074 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,851 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,090 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $54,950 and the ninetieth is $126,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $65,162 take-home in Kentucky comes from $84,090. 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 72 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $72,027 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 72.
- The Kentucky median of $84,090 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $54,950 to $126,060. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $65,162, from $84,090, 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 72 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 32 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $72,027, worked from $84,090, 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 72 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 $86,740 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $54,950, the highest tenth $126,060, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $72,027.
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, $65,162 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 $86,740. 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 ($54,950) and the ninetieth ($126,060) 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 $72,027 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 $65,162 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.