Mechanical Drafters in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,994
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$13,886
20.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,788
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
$68,880
Kept after tax
$54,994
Worth in national money
$60,788
State rank
22
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kentucky pays mechanical drafters around $68,880 at the midpoint, 22 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Mechanical drafters ranks 133 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $68,880 you keep $54,994 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $60,788 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $70,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For mechanical drafters the Kentucky median is $68,880, ranking 22 of 47 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.
- Position 133 of 491 in Kentucky places mechanical drafters 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $54,994 after the full tax stack, from $68,880. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $60,788 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $70,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,020 |
| This salary | $68,880 |
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 | $54,994 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $57,287 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,836 |
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 | $65,730 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,536 |
| 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 $68,880. The published range is $50,530 up to $96,020, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $54,994, from $68,880, 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 133 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $60,788, the adjusted value of that $68,880 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 133 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical drafters in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,530 to $96,020. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $54,994 from $68,880. 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 133 of 491 locally.
- This $60,788 adjusted figure, worked from $68,880, 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 133 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 133 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $50,530 at the bottom tenth to $96,020 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $60,788 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 $54,994 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($50,530 to $96,020) 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 $60,788 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 $54,994 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.