Operations Research Analysts in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,001
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$18,849
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,850
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
$83,850
Kept after tax
$65,001
Worth in national money
$71,850
State rank
29
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kentucky pays operations research analysts around $83,850 at the midpoint, 29 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Kentucky this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, operations research analysts ranks 73 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $83,850 you keep $65,001 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $71,850 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $89,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- For operations research analysts the Kentucky median is $83,850, ranking 29 of 47 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Kentucky publishes a median for, operations research analysts sits 73 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $65,001 after the full tax stack, from $83,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $71,850 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $89,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Operations Research Analysts
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,860 |
| This salary | $83,850 |
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 | $65,001 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,818 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,060 |
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 | $79,846 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,846 |
| 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 $83,850. The published range is $58,970 up to $129,860, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $65,001 take-home in Kentucky comes from $83,850. 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 73 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $71,850, the adjusted value of that $83,850 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 73 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for operations research analysts in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $58,970 to $129,860. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $65,001, from $83,850, 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 73 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 29 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $71,850 — the adjusted value of that $83,850 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 73 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 $89,930, 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 $58,970 and the top tenth $129,860 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $71,850 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 $65,001 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 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $89,930. 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 ($58,970) and the ninetieth ($129,860) 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 $71,850 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 $65,001 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.