Highway Maintenance Workers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,345
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$7,055
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,858
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
$40,400
Kept after tax
$33,345
Worth in national money
$36,858
State rank
44
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for highway maintenance workers is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $40,400. That is 44 of 49 states, and about 19.62% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Measured against other jobs in Kentucky, this one sits low: 382 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $40,400 the take-home is $33,345; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $36,858 would nationally. The average comes to $41,960, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For highway maintenance workers, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $40,400, ranking 44 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 19.62%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Highway maintenance workers occupies position 382 of 491 in Kentucky's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Post-tax income for highway maintenance workers in Kentucky, on $40,400, is $33,345 — equivalent to $36,858 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $41,960 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Highway Maintenance Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,750 |
| This salary | $40,400 |
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 | $33,345 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,641 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,210 |
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 | $38,787 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,463 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $40,400 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,030 and the ninetieth is $50,750 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $33,345 take-home in Kentucky comes from $40,400. 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 382 of 491.
- Two cautions on $36,858, the adjusted value of that $40,400 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 382 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $40,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,030 to $50,750. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $33,345, from $40,400, 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 382 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 49 for it.
- This $36,858 adjusted figure, worked from $40,400, 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 382 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 382 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $41,960, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,030 at the tenth percentile, $50,750 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,858.
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 $33,345.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $41,960. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,030 to $50,750) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kentucky rather than a national figure.
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 $36,858 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 $33,345 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.