Physical Therapist Assistants in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,545
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$11,935
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,765
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
$61,480
Kept after tax
$49,545
Worth in national money
$54,765
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for physical therapist assistants is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $61,480. That is 44 of 51 states, and about 10.09% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Physical therapist assistants ranks 180 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,480 you keep $49,545 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,765 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $60,490.
- For physical therapist assistants, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $61,480, ranking 44 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 10.09%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 180 of 491 in Kentucky places physical therapist assistants 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 $49,545 after the full tax stack, from $61,480. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,765 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,490 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Physical Therapist Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,500 |
| This salary | $61,480 |
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 | $49,545 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,579 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,687 |
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 | $58,948 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,040 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,480 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,870 and the ninetieth is $79,500 — 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 $49,545, worked from $61,480. 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 180 of 491.
- Two cautions on $54,765, the adjusted value of that $61,480 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 180 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $61,480 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,870 to $79,500. 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 $49,545, on $61,480 for work ranking 180 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 180 of 491 in the state.
- This $54,765 adjusted figure, worked from $61,480, 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 180 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 180 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $27,870 and the top tenth $79,500 — 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 $54,765.
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, $49,545 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($27,870) and the ninetieth ($79,500) 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 $54,765 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 $49,545 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.