Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,744
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$24,176
24.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,725
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
$99,920
Kept after tax
$75,744
Worth in national money
$83,725
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays this job a middle wage of $99,920, 36 of 51 states and about 5.62% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Kentucky reports, this job comes in at 47 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $99,920 you keep $75,744, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $83,725 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $100,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Kentucky's $99,920 median for education administrators, kindergarten through secondary places it 36 of 51 states, about 5.62% 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.
- Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary ranks 47 of 491 occupations by median in Kentucky, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for education administrators, kindergarten through secondary on $99,920 is $75,744. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $83,725 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 $100,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $75,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,310 |
| This salary | $99,920 |
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 | $75,744 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,124 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,301 |
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 | $95,116 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,178 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $99,920 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $75,270 and the ninetieth is $130,310 — 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 $75,744, worked from $99,920. 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 47 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $83,725, the adjusted value of that $99,920 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 47 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $99,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $75,270 to $130,310. 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 $75,744, on $99,920 for work ranking 47 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 47 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $83,725 — the adjusted value of that $99,920 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 47 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $75,270 and the top tenth $130,310, so most people doing this work in Kentucky sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $83,725.
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, $75,744 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($75,270 to $130,310) 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 $83,725 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 $75,744 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.