Occupational Health and Safety Specialists in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,921
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$18,809
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,761
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
$83,730
Kept after tax
$64,921
Worth in national money
$71,761
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $83,730. That is 42 of 51 states, and about 7.12% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within Kentucky this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 74 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $83,730 you keep $64,921, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $71,761 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $87,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For occupational health and safety specialists, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $83,730, ranking 42 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 7.12%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation Kentucky publishes a median for, occupational health and safety specialists sits 74 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for occupational health and safety specialists on $83,730 is $64,921. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $71,761 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 $87,530 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Occupational Health and Safety Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,120 |
| This salary | $83,730 |
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 | $64,921 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,734 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,058 |
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 | $79,731 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,843 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $83,730 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,040 and the ninetieth is $129,120 — 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 $64,921, worked from $83,730. 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 74 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $71,761, the adjusted value of that $83,730 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 74 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $83,730 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,040 to $129,120. 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 $64,921, on $83,730 for work ranking 74 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 74 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $71,761 — the adjusted value of that $83,730 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 74 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $87,530, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $49,040 and the top tenth $129,120 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $71,761.
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, $64,921 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $87,530. 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 ($49,040) and the ninetieth ($129,120) 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 $71,761 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 $64,921 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.