Electricians in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,192
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$11,528
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,270
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
$59,720
Kept after tax
$48,192
Worth in national money
$53,270
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays electricians a middle wage of $59,720, 43 of 51 states and about 5.49% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 214 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $59,720 you keep $48,192 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,270 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,410, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky's $59,720 median for electricians places it 43 of 51 states, about 5.49% 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.
- Electricians ranks 214 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $48,192 after the full tax stack, from $59,720. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,270 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,410 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Electricians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,260 |
| This salary | $59,720 |
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 | $48,192 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,165 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,647 |
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 | $57,265 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,992 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,720 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,110 and the ninetieth is $85,260 — 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 $48,192, worked from $59,720. 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 214 of 491.
- Two cautions on $53,270, the adjusted value of that $59,720 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 214 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $59,720 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,110 to $85,260. 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 $48,192, on $59,720 for work ranking 214 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 214 of 491 in the state.
- This $53,270 adjusted figure, worked from $59,720, 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 214 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 214 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,110, the highest tenth $85,260, 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 $53,270 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $48,192 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($37,110) and the ninetieth ($85,260) 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 $53,270 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 $48,192 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.