Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,559
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$13,671
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,308
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
$68,230
Kept after tax
$54,559
Worth in national money
$60,308
State rank
10
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Kentucky's middle earner gets $68,230, putting the state 10 of 50 — about 9.55% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 136 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $68,230 the take-home is $54,559; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $60,308 would nationally. The average comes to $69,920, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For life, physical, and social science technicians, all other, Kentucky sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $68,230, ranking 10 of 50 and running about 9.55% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 136 of 491 in Kentucky places life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Kentucky, on $68,230, is $54,559 — equivalent to $60,308 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 $69,920 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: Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,500 |
| This salary | $68,230 |
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 | $54,559 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,830 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,826 |
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 | $65,189 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,522 |
| 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 life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Kentucky earn under $68,230 and half over. The published range runs $42,880 at the tenth percentile to $98,500 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $54,559, from $68,230, 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 136 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 $60,308, the adjusted value of that $68,230 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 136 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,880 to $98,500; 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.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $54,559 from $68,230. 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 136 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $60,308 — the adjusted value of that $68,230 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 136 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $42,880 and the top tenth $98,500 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $60,308.
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 $54,559 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 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($42,880) and the ninetieth ($98,500) 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 $60,308 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 $54,559 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.