Credit Counselors in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,301
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,849
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,442
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
$48,150
Kept after tax
$39,301
Worth in national money
$43,442
State rank
34
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky is among the lower-paying states for credit counselors. The middle earner takes $48,150, ranking 34 of 46 states — about 7.81% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Credit counselors ranks 302 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $48,150 the take-home is $39,301; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,442 would nationally. The average comes to $52,900, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Kentucky ranks 34 of 46 for credit counselors, with a median of $48,150 — about 7.81% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 302 of 491 in Kentucky places credit counselors 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.
- Post-tax income for credit counselors in Kentucky, on $48,150, is $39,301 — equivalent to $43,442 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $52,900 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Credit Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,210 |
| This salary | $48,150 |
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 | $39,301 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,869 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,385 |
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 | $46,199 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,675 |
| 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 $48,150. The published range is $37,360 up to $74,210, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $39,301, from $48,150, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 302 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $43,442, the adjusted value of that $48,150 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 302 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for credit counselors in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,360 to $74,210. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,301 from $48,150. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 302 of 491 locally.
- This $43,442 adjusted figure, worked from $48,150, 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 302 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 302 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 $52,900 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $37,360 and the top tenth $74,210 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $43,442 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $39,301 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $52,900. 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 ($37,360) and the ninetieth ($74,210) 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 $43,442 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 $39,301 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.