Data Entry Keyers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,632
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$6,238
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,860
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
$36,870
Kept after tax
$30,632
Worth in national money
$33,860
State rank
44
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for data entry keyers is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $36,870. That is 44 of 49 states, and about 10.81% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Kentucky publishes, data entry keyers lands at 418. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,870 you keep $30,632 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,860 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,830, since top earners drag the number up.
- For data entry keyers, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $36,870, ranking 44 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 10.81%. 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 418 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $30,632 after the full tax stack, from $36,870. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,860 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,830 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Data Entry Keyers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,910 |
| This salary | $36,870 |
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 | $30,632 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,805 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,130 |
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 | $35,410 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,367 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,870 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,280 and the ninetieth is $50,910 — 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 $30,632, worked from $36,870. 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 418 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,860 uses one figure for the whole of Kentucky. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 418.
- The Kentucky median of $36,870 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,280 to $50,910. 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 $30,632, on $36,870 for work ranking 418 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 418 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,860, worked from $36,870, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Kentucky address, on work sitting at 418 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $38,830, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,280 at the bottom tenth to $50,910 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $33,860 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, $30,632 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 49 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 $38,830. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,280 to $50,910) 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 $33,860 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 $30,632 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.