Paramedics in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,638
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$9,252
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,920
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
$49,890
Kept after tax
$40,638
Worth in national money
$44,920
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays paramedics a middle wage of $49,890, 47 of 51 states and about 17.67% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Paramedics ranks 277 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $49,890 you keep $40,638 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,920 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,510, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky's $49,890 median for paramedics places it 47 of 51 states, about 17.67% 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.
- Position 277 of 491 in Kentucky places paramedics 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $40,638 after the full tax stack, from $49,890. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,920 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,510 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Paramedics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,820 |
| This salary | $49,890 |
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 | $40,638 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,267 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,424 |
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 | $47,863 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,723 |
| 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 paramedics in Kentucky earn under $49,890 and half over. The published range runs $40,050 at the tenth percentile to $66,820 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $40,638, from $49,890, 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 277 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $44,920, the adjusted value of that $49,890 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 277 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for paramedics in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,050 to $66,820; 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.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,638 from $49,890. 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 277 of 491 locally.
- This $44,920 adjusted figure, worked from $49,890, 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 277 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 277 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $52,510 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $40,050 at the tenth percentile, $66,820 at the ninetieth.
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 $44,920.
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, $40,638 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 $52,510. 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 ($40,050 to $66,820) 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 $44,920 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 $40,638 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.