Natural Sciences Managers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,380
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$33,060
26.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$103,219
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
$126,440
Kept after tax
$93,380
Worth in national money
$103,219
State rank
32
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Kentucky is 32 of 48 states for natural sciences managers, with a middle wage of $126,440. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Kentucky reports, natural sciences managers comes in at 15 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $126,440 the take-home is $93,380; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $103,219 would nationally. The average comes to $132,550, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Kentucky ranks 32 of 48 for natural sciences managers at $126,440. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Natural sciences managers ranks 15 of 491 occupations by median in Kentucky, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for natural sciences managers in Kentucky, on $126,440, is $93,380 — equivalent to $103,219 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $132,550 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Natural Sciences Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $55,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $197,760 |
| This salary | $126,440 |
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 | $93,380 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,688 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,691 |
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 | $120,185 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,826 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $126,440 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $55,180 and the ninetieth is $197,760 — 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 $93,380, worked from $126,440. 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 15 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $103,219, the adjusted value of that $126,440 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 15 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $126,440 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $55,180 to $197,760. 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 $93,380, on $126,440 for work ranking 15 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 15 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $103,219 — the adjusted value of that $126,440 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 15 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 $132,550 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $55,180 at the bottom tenth to $197,760 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $103,219 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Kentucky's own levy, $93,380 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $132,550. 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 ($55,180) and the ninetieth ($197,760) 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 $103,219 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 $93,380 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.