Education Administrators, Postsecondary in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$85,364
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$28,946
25.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$94,358
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
$114,310
Kept after tax
$85,364
Worth in national money
$94,358
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Kentucky's middle earner gets $114,310, putting the state 15 of 51 — about 9.29% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Kentucky this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 23 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $114,310 you keep $85,364 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $94,358 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $145,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- For education administrators, postsecondary, Kentucky sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $114,310, ranking 15 of 51 and running about 9.29% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Kentucky publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 23 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $85,364 after the full tax stack, from $114,310. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $94,358 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $145,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $114,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $230,220 |
| This salary | $114,310 |
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 | $85,364 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $89,247 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,516 |
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 | $108,790 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,476 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $114,310 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $77,630 and the ninetieth is $230,220 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $85,364 take-home in Kentucky comes from $114,310. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 23 of 491.
- Two cautions on $94,358, the adjusted value of that $114,310 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 23 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $114,310 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $77,630 to $230,220. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $85,364, from $114,310, assumes a single Kentucky filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 23 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 51 for it.
- This $94,358 adjusted figure, worked from $114,310, 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 23 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 23 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $145,310 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $77,630 and the top tenth $230,220 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $94,358 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 $85,364.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $145,310. 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 ($77,630) and the ninetieth ($230,220) 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 $94,358 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 $85,364 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.