Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,447
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,893
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,603
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
$48,340
Kept after tax
$39,447
Worth in national money
$43,603
State rank
35
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays drywall and ceiling tile installers a middle wage of $48,340, 35 of 49 states and about 17.97% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 295 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,340 you keep $39,447 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,603 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $48,100.
- Kentucky's $48,340 median for drywall and ceiling tile installers places it 35 of 49 states, about 17.97% 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 295 of 491 in Kentucky places drywall and ceiling tile installers 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $39,447 after the full tax stack, from $48,340. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,603 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $48,100 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $68,760 |
| This salary | $48,340 |
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 | $39,447 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,021 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,389 |
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 | $46,381 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,680 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,340 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,020 and the ninetieth is $68,760 — 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 $39,447, worked from $48,340. 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 295 of 491.
- Two cautions on $43,603, the adjusted value of that $48,340 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 295 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $48,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,020 to $68,760. 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 $39,447, on $48,340 for work ranking 295 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 295 of 491 in the state.
- This $43,603 adjusted figure, worked from $48,340, 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 295 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 295 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $23,020 and the top tenth $68,760 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $43,603 in national terms.
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, $39,447 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($23,020) and the ninetieth ($68,760) 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 $43,603 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 $39,447 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.