Counter and Rental Clerks in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,261
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$6,729
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,661
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
$38,990
Kept after tax
$32,261
Worth in national money
$35,661
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kentucky pays counter and rental clerks around $38,990 at the midpoint, 29 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Kentucky publishes, counter and rental clerks lands at 396. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $38,990 you keep $32,261, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,661 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,450, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For counter and rental clerks the Kentucky median is $38,990, ranking 29 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, this work ranks 396 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.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for counter and rental clerks on $38,990 is $32,261. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,661 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 $42,450 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Counter and Rental Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,200 |
| This salary | $38,990 |
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 | $32,261 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,508 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,178 |
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 | $37,438 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,425 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,990 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,040 and the ninetieth is $61,200 — 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 $32,261, worked from $38,990. 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 396 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,661, the adjusted value of that $38,990 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 396 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $38,990 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,040 to $61,200. 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 $32,261, on $38,990 for work ranking 396 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 396 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $35,661 — the adjusted value of that $38,990 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 396 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $42,450, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $27,040, the highest tenth $61,200, 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 $35,661.
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, $32,261 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 $42,450. 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 ($27,040) and the ninetieth ($61,200) 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 $35,661 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 $32,261 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.