Electronics Engineers, Except Computer in Kentucky

A pale wooden scale model and metal measuring tools on an engineering workbench.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$77,041

after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax

Tax takes

$24,819

24.4% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$85,158

Kentucky costs less than average

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

$101,860

Kept after tax

$77,041

Worth in national money

$85,158

State rank

42

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for this job is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $101,860. That is 42 of 50 states, and about 21.78% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Kentucky reports, this job comes in at 39 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
  • Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $101,860 you keep $77,041, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $85,158 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $105,520, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For electronics engineers, except computer, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $101,860, ranking 42 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 21.78%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Electronics engineers, except computer ranks 39 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 electronics engineers, except computer on $101,860 is $77,041. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $85,158 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 $105,520 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Electronics Engineers, Except Computer

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$60,670
Half earn under$101,860
Top tenth earn over$146,480
This salary$101,860

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

Compare with
+$3,448take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Kentucky$77,041
Take-home in Texas$80,489
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,330

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

Moving to
$0$105,078
$105,078in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$96,960
Raise you would need+$3,218
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $101,860 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,670 and the ninetieth is $146,480 — 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 $77,041, worked from $101,860. 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 39 of 491.
  • Two cautions on $85,158, the adjusted value of that $101,860 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 39 of 491 locally.
  • The Kentucky median of $101,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,670 to $146,480. 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 $77,041, on $101,860 for work ranking 39 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 39 of 491 in the state.
  • This $85,158 adjusted figure, worked from $101,860, 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 39 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 39 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 $105,520 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?

The label is broader than the work. From $60,670 at the bottom tenth to $146,480 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

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 $85,158 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, $77,041 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 $105,520. 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 ($60,670) and the ninetieth ($146,480) 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 $85,158 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 $77,041 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.