Occupational Therapy Assistants in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,427
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$12,803
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,951
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
$65,230
Kept after tax
$52,427
Worth in national money
$57,951
State rank
33
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kentucky pays this job around $65,230 at the midpoint, 33 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 151 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 $65,230 you keep $52,427 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $57,951 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $65,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- For occupational therapy assistants the Kentucky median is $65,230, ranking 33 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Occupational therapy assistants ranks 151 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 $52,427 after the full tax stack, from $65,230. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $57,951 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $65,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Occupational Therapy Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,270 |
| This salary | $65,230 |
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 | $52,427 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,771 |
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 | $62,535 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,266 |
| 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 occupational therapy assistants in Kentucky earn under $65,230 and half over. The published range runs $50,840 at the tenth percentile to $77,270 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $52,427 take-home in Kentucky comes from $65,230. 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 151 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,951, the adjusted value of that $65,230 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 151 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for occupational therapy assistants in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,840 to $77,270; 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 $52,427, from $65,230, 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 151 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $57,951 — the adjusted value of that $65,230 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 151 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $50,840 at the bottom tenth to $77,270 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $57,951 in national terms.
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 $52,427 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($50,840 to $77,270) 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 $57,951 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 $52,427 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.