Financial Managers in Kentucky

A person arriving at a home office with a bag beside a laptop and navy coffee cup.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$96,110

after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax

Tax takes

$34,540

26.4% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$106,237

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

$130,650

Kept after tax

$96,110

Worth in national money

$106,237

State rank

43

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for financial managers is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $130,650. That is 43 of 51 states, and about 21.56% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Within Kentucky this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, financial managers ranks 10 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
  • Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $130,650 you keep $96,110, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $106,237 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $145,780, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For financial managers, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $130,650, ranking 43 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 21.56%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Ranked against every occupation Kentucky publishes a median for, financial managers sits 10 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.
  • After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for financial managers on $130,650 is $96,110. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $106,237 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 $145,780 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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: Financial Managers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$82,110
Half earn under$130,650
Top tenth earn over$223,290
This salary$130,650

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
+$4,455take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Kentucky$96,110
Take-home in Texas$100,565
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,748

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$134,557
$134,557in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$124,132
Raise you would need+$3,907
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

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

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Kentucky earn less than $130,650. The published range is $82,110 up to $223,290, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • That $96,110 take-home in Kentucky comes from $130,650. 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 10 of 491.
  • Two cautions on $106,237, the adjusted value of that $130,650 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 10 of 491 locally.
  • Reported values are medians; for financial managers in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $82,110 to $223,290. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Retained pay of $96,110, from $130,650, 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 10 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 51 for it.
  • This $106,237 adjusted figure, worked from $130,650, 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 10 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 10 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 $145,780, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $82,110 and the top tenth $223,290 — 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 $106,237 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 $96,110.

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 $145,780. 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 ($82,110) and the ninetieth ($223,290) 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 $106,237 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 $96,110 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.