Crossing Guards and Flaggers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,772
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$5,678
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,804
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
$34,450
Kept after tax
$28,772
Worth in national money
$31,804
State rank
35
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for crossing guards and flaggers is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $34,450. That is 35 of 49 states, and about 9.58% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Kentucky publishes, crossing guards and flaggers lands at 447. 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 $34,450 you keep $28,772, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,804 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $34,960, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For crossing guards and flaggers, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $34,450, ranking 35 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 9.58%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Kentucky, this work ranks 447 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 crossing guards and flaggers on $34,450 is $28,772. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,804 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 $34,960 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Crossing Guards and Flaggers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,940 |
| This salary | $34,450 |
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 | $28,772 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,861 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,075 |
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 | $33,096 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,300 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $34,450 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,140 and the ninetieth is $38,940 — 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 $28,772, worked from $34,450. 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 447 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,804, the adjusted value of that $34,450 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 447 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $34,450 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,140 to $38,940. 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 $28,772, on $34,450 for work ranking 447 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 447 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $31,804 — the adjusted value of that $34,450 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 447 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,140 at the tenth percentile, $38,940 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kentucky is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $31,804 in national terms.
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 $28,772.
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 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,140 to $38,940) 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 $31,804 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 $28,772 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.