Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$83,024
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$27,786
25.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,772
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
$110,810
Kept after tax
$83,024
Worth in national money
$91,772
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $110,810, ranking 17 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Kentucky reports, this job comes in at 29 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $110,810 you keep $83,024 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $91,772 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $124,800, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky occupies the middle band for engineering teachers, postsecondary: a median of $110,810, ranking 17 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Engineering teachers, postsecondary ranks 29 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $83,024 after the full tax stack, from $110,810. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $91,772 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $124,800 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $110,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $219,540 |
| This salary | $110,810 |
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 | $83,024 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $86,785 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,464 |
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 | $105,464 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,404 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $110,810 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $64,550 and the ninetieth is $219,540 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $83,024, from $110,810, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 29 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $91,772, the adjusted value of that $110,810 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 29 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $110,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $64,550 to $219,540. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $83,024 from $110,810. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 29 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $91,772 — the adjusted value of that $110,810 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 29 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $124,800, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $64,550 at the bottom tenth to $219,540 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $91,772.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Kentucky adds its own income tax on top — which is why $83,024 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $124,800. 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 ($64,550) and the ninetieth ($219,540) 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 $91,772 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 $83,024 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.