Editors in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,970
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$11,460
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,024
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
$59,430
Kept after tax
$47,970
Worth in national money
$53,024
State rank
37
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky is among the lower-paying states for editors. The middle earner takes $59,430, ranking 37 of 50 states — about 23.73% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 219 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,430 the take-home is $47,970; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,024 would nationally. The average comes to $72,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Kentucky ranks 37 of 50 for editors, with a median of $59,430 — about 23.73% 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.
- Editors ranks 219 of 491 occupations in Kentucky by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for editors in Kentucky, on $59,430, is $47,970 — equivalent to $53,024 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 $72,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Editors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $149,990 |
| This salary | $59,430 |
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 | $47,970 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,932 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,640 |
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 | $56,988 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,984 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of editors in Kentucky earn under $59,430 and half over. The published range runs $39,040 at the tenth percentile to $149,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $47,970, from $59,430, 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 219 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $53,024, the adjusted value of that $59,430 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 219 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for editors in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,040 to $149,990; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,970 from $59,430. 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 219 of 491 locally.
- This $53,024 adjusted figure, worked from $59,430, 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 219 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 219 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 $72,640, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $39,040, the highest tenth $149,990, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $53,024 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $47,970.
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 50 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 $72,640. 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 ($39,040) and the ninetieth ($149,990) 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 $53,024 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 $47,970 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.