Light Truck Drivers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,520
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$7,710
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,262
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
$43,230
Kept after tax
$35,520
Worth in national money
$39,262
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays light truck drivers a middle wage of $43,230, 36 of 51 states and about 3.63% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 362 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $43,230 you keep $35,520 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $39,262 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $48,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky's $43,230 median for light truck drivers places it 36 of 51 states, about 3.63% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Light truck drivers ranks 362 of 491 occupations in Kentucky by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $35,520 after the full tax stack, from $43,230. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $39,262 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $48,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,040 |
| This salary | $43,230 |
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 | $35,520 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,915 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,274 |
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 | $41,493 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,541 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 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 $43,230. The published range is $26,780 up to $84,040, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kentucky's $35,520, worked from $43,230. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 362 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,262, the adjusted value of that $43,230 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 362 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for light truck drivers in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $26,780 to $84,040. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Kentucky take-home of $35,520, on $43,230 for work ranking 362 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 362 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $39,262 — the adjusted value of that $43,230 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 362 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 $48,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $26,780, the highest tenth $84,040, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kentucky is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,262 in national terms.
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 $35,520 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 $48,880. 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 ($26,780) and the ninetieth ($84,040) 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 $39,262 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 $35,520 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.