Clergy in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,578
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$11,342
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,591
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
$58,920
Kept after tax
$47,578
Worth in national money
$52,591
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays clergy a middle wage of $58,920, 34 of 50 states and about 3.11% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Clergy ranks 225 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $58,920 you keep $47,578, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $52,591 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $58,370, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Kentucky's $58,920 median for clergy places it 34 of 50 states, about 3.11% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 225 of 491 in Kentucky places clergy in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for clergy on $58,920 is $47,578. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $52,591 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 $58,370 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,640 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,630 |
| This salary | $58,920 |
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 | $47,578 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,522 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,629 |
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 | $56,500 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,970 |
| 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 $58,920. The published range is $40,640 up to $80,630, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $47,578 take-home in Kentucky comes from $58,920. 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 225 of 491.
- Two cautions on $52,591, the adjusted value of that $58,920 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 225 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for clergy in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,640 to $80,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $47,578, from $58,920, 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 225 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 50 for it.
- This $52,591 adjusted figure, worked from $58,920, 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 225 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 225 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,640 and the top tenth $80,630, 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 $52,591.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Kentucky adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,578 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,640 to $80,630) 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 $52,591 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 $47,578 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.