Educational Instruction and Library Workers, All Other in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,149
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,201
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,063
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
$45,350
Kept after tax
$37,149
Worth in national money
$41,063
State rank
38
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $45,350, ranking 38 of 50 states — about 10.89% 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: 346 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $45,350 you keep $37,149, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $41,063 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $53,790, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Kentucky ranks 38 of 50 for educational instruction and library workers, all other, with a median of $45,350 — about 10.89% 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.
- Educational instruction and library workers, all other ranks 346 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.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for educational instruction and library workers, all other on $45,350 is $37,149. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $41,063 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 $53,790 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Educational Instruction and Library Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,240 |
| This salary | $45,350 |
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 | $37,149 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,619 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,322 |
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 | $43,521 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,599 |
| 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 educational instruction and library workers, all other in Kentucky earn under $45,350 and half over. The published range runs $28,210 at the tenth percentile to $100,240 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $37,149 take-home in Kentucky comes from $45,350. 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 346 of 491.
- Two cautions on $41,063, the adjusted value of that $45,350 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 346 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for educational instruction and library workers, all other in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,210 to $100,240; 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.
- Retained pay of $37,149, from $45,350, 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 346 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 50 for it.
- This $41,063 adjusted figure, worked from $45,350, 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 346 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 346 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 $53,790 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $28,210, the highest tenth $100,240, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $41,063.
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, $37,149 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $53,790. 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 ($28,210) and the ninetieth ($100,240) 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 $41,063 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 $37,149 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.