Painters, Construction and Maintenance in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,270
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,840
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,408
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
$48,110
Kept after tax
$39,270
Worth in national money
$43,408
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Kentucky is 32 of 51 states for painters, construction and maintenance, with a middle wage of $48,110. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Painters, construction and maintenance ranks 303 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $48,110 the take-home is $39,270; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,408 would nationally. The average comes to $51,420, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Kentucky ranks 32 of 51 for painters, construction and maintenance at $48,110. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 303 of 491 in Kentucky places painters, construction and maintenance in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for painters, construction and maintenance in Kentucky, on $48,110, is $39,270 — equivalent to $43,408 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 $51,420 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Painters, Construction and Maintenance
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,720 |
| This salary | $48,110 |
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 | $39,270 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,836 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,384 |
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 | $46,161 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,674 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,110 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,900 and the ninetieth is $64,720 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $39,270, from $48,110, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 303 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $43,408, the adjusted value of that $48,110 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Kentucky. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 303 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $48,110 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,900 to $64,720. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,270 from $48,110. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 303 of 491 locally.
- This $43,408 adjusted figure, worked from $48,110, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 303 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 303 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $51,420, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,900 at the tenth percentile, $64,720 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,408 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 $39,270 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $51,420. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,900 to $64,720) 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 $43,408 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 $39,270 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.