Nurse Practitioners in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$91,065
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$31,805
25.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$100,660
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
$122,870
Kept after tax
$91,065
Worth in national money
$100,660
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays nurse practitioners a middle wage of $122,870, 49 of 51 states and about 7.13% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Kentucky reports, nurse practitioners comes in at 20 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $122,870 the take-home is $91,065; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $100,660 would nationally. The average comes to $125,010, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Kentucky's $122,870 median for nurse practitioners places it 49 of 51 states, about 7.13% 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.
- Nurse practitioners ranks 20 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 nurse practitioners in Kentucky, on $122,870, is $91,065 — equivalent to $100,660 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 $125,010 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nurse Practitioners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $95,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $122,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $162,960 |
| This salary | $122,870 |
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 | $91,065 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $95,248 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,643 |
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 | $116,894 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,758 |
| 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 $122,870. The published range is $95,710 up to $162,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $91,065 take-home in Kentucky comes from $122,870. 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 20 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $100,660 uses one figure for the whole of Kentucky. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 20.
- Reported values are medians; for nurse practitioners in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $95,710 to $162,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $91,065, from $122,870, 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 20 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $100,660, worked from $122,870, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Kentucky address, on work sitting at 20 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $95,710 and the top tenth $162,960, so most people doing this work in Kentucky sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $100,660 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 $91,065 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 ($95,710 to $162,960) 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 $100,660 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 $91,065 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.