Medical Assistants in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,477
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$6,793
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,898
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
$39,270
Kept after tax
$32,477
Worth in national money
$35,898
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays medical assistants a middle wage of $39,270, 44 of 51 states and about 14.05% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Kentucky this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, medical assistants ranks 390. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $39,270 you keep $32,477, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,898 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Kentucky's $39,270 median for medical assistants places it 44 of 51 states, about 14.05% 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.
- Against every occupation Kentucky reports, medical assistants ranks 390 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for medical assistants on $39,270 is $32,477. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,898 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $40,940 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,940 |
| This salary | $39,270 |
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 | $32,477 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,733 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,184 |
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 | $37,706 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,432 |
| 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 medical assistants in Kentucky earn under $39,270 and half over. The published range runs $32,950 at the tenth percentile to $47,940 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,477 take-home in Kentucky comes from $39,270. 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 390 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,898, the adjusted value of that $39,270 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 390 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical assistants in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,950 to $47,940; 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.
- Retained pay of $32,477, from $39,270, 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 390 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $35,898 — the adjusted value of that $39,270 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 390 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $40,940 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $32,950 and the top tenth $47,940, so most people doing this work in Kentucky sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $35,898 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 $32,477.
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 $40,940. 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 ($32,950 to $47,940) 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 $35,898 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 $32,477 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.