Civil Engineers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,419
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$24,511
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$84,471
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
$100,930
Kept after tax
$76,419
Worth in national money
$84,471
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky is one of the better-paying states for civil engineers. The middle earner takes $100,930, which ranks 17 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 0.09% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Kentucky. It ranks 42 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $100,930 you keep $76,419 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $84,471 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $105,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky ranks 17 of 51 states publishing a median for civil engineers, at $100,930 — about 0.09% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Kentucky, civil engineers ranks 42 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $76,419 after the full tax stack, from $100,930. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $84,471 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $105,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $143,680 |
| This salary | $100,930 |
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 | $76,419 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,834 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,316 |
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 | $96,076 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,199 |
| 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 $100,930. The published range is $65,660 up to $143,680, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $76,419 take-home in Kentucky comes from $100,930. 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 42 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $84,471, the adjusted value of that $100,930 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 42 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for civil engineers in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,660 to $143,680. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $76,419, from $100,930, 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 42 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $84,471 — the adjusted value of that $100,930 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 42 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 $105,310 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 $65,660, the highest tenth $143,680, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $84,471 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $76,419.
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 $105,310. 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 ($65,660) and the ninetieth ($143,680) 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 $84,471 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 $76,419 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.