Physical Therapists in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,272
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$24,438
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$84,309
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
$100,710
Kept after tax
$76,272
Worth in national money
$84,309
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Kentucky is 28 of 51 states for physical therapists, with a middle wage of $100,710. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Kentucky reports, physical therapists comes in at 44 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $100,710 the take-home is $76,272; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $84,309 would nationally. The average lands at $99,190, below the middle of the range.
- Kentucky ranks 28 of 51 for physical therapists at $100,710. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Physical therapists ranks 44 of 491 occupations by median in Kentucky, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for physical therapists in Kentucky, on $100,710, is $76,272 — equivalent to $84,309 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 $99,190 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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 Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $73,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,920 |
| This salary | $100,710 |
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 | $76,272 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,679 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,313 |
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 | $95,867 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,194 |
| 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 physical therapists in Kentucky earn under $100,710 and half over. The published range runs $73,900 at the tenth percentile to $126,920 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $76,272 take-home in Kentucky comes from $100,710. 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 44 of 491.
- Two cautions on $84,309, the adjusted value of that $100,710 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 44 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for physical therapists in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $73,900 to $126,920; 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 $76,272, from $100,710, 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 44 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 51 for it.
- This $84,309 adjusted figure, worked from $100,710, 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 44 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 44 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $73,900 and the top tenth $126,920, so most people doing this work in Kentucky sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $84,309 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 $76,272 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($73,900 to $126,920) 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 $84,309 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 $76,272 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.