Medical Equipment Preparers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,325
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,555
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,363
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
$46,880
Kept after tax
$38,325
Worth in national money
$42,363
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky sits in the middle of the pack for medical equipment preparers. The median is $46,880, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 323 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 $46,880 you keep $38,325 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $42,363 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $47,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky occupies the middle band for medical equipment preparers: a median of $46,880, ranking 25 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Medical equipment preparers ranks 323 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 $38,325 after the full tax stack, from $46,880. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $42,363 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Equipment Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,410 |
| This salary | $46,880 |
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 | $38,325 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,848 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,356 |
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 | $44,984 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,640 |
| 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 equipment preparers in Kentucky earn under $46,880 and half over. The published range runs $35,340 at the tenth percentile to $60,410 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $38,325, from $46,880, 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 323 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $42,363, the adjusted value of that $46,880 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 323 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical equipment preparers in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,340 to $60,410; 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 $38,325 from $46,880. 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 323 of 491 locally.
- This $42,363 adjusted figure, worked from $46,880, 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 323 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 323 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $35,340 and the top tenth $60,410, so most people doing this work in Kentucky sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $42,363.
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 $38,325 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,340 to $60,410) 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 $42,363 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 $38,325 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.