First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,262
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$16,498
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,611
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
$76,760
Kept after tax
$60,262
Worth in national money
$66,611
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $76,760. That is 40 of 51 states, and about 3.88% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Kentucky. It ranks 103 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $76,760 you keep $60,262, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $66,611 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $81,350, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $76,760, ranking 40 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 3.88%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Kentucky, first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers ranks 103 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers on $76,760 is $60,262. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $66,611 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 $81,350 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,120 |
| This salary | $76,760 |
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 | $60,262 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,831 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,954 |
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 | $73,108 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,699 |
| 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 first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers in Kentucky earn under $76,760 and half over. The published range runs $46,890 at the tenth percentile to $123,120 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $60,262 take-home in Kentucky comes from $76,760. 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 103 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $66,611, the adjusted value of that $76,760 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 103 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,890 to $123,120; 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 $60,262, from $76,760, 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 103 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $66,611 — the adjusted value of that $76,760 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 103 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 $81,350 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 $46,890, the highest tenth $123,120, 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 $66,611 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $60,262 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $81,350. 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 ($46,890) and the ninetieth ($123,120) 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 $66,611 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 $60,262 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.