Materials Engineers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,212
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$24,408
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$84,242
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
$100,620
Kept after tax
$76,212
Worth in national money
$84,242
State rank
30
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kentucky pays materials engineers around $100,620 at the midpoint, 30 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Kentucky. It ranks 45 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $100,620 you keep $76,212 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $84,242 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $106,970, since top earners drag the number up.
- For materials engineers the Kentucky median is $100,620, ranking 30 of 45 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Kentucky, materials engineers ranks 45 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $76,212 after the full tax stack, from $100,620. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $84,242 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $106,970 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $84,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,800 |
| This salary | $100,620 |
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 | $76,212 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,616 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,311 |
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 | $95,781 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,193 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,620 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $84,610 and the ninetieth is $132,800 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kentucky's $76,212, worked from $100,620. 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 45 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $84,242, the adjusted value of that $100,620 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 45 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $100,620 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $84,610 to $132,800. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Kentucky take-home of $76,212, on $100,620 for work ranking 45 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 45 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $84,242 — the adjusted value of that $100,620 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 45 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 $106,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $84,610 at the tenth percentile, $132,800 at the ninetieth.
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 $84,242 in national terms.
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 $76,212.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 $106,970. 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 ($84,610 to $132,800) 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 $84,242 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 $76,212 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.