Production Workers, All Other in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,985
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$6,645
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,355
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
$38,630
Kept after tax
$31,985
Worth in national money
$35,355
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for production workers, all other is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $38,630. That is 39 of 51 states, and about 3.69% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Kentucky publishes, production workers, all other lands at 401. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $38,630 the take-home is $31,985; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $35,355 would nationally. The average comes to $39,880, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For production workers, all other, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $38,630, ranking 39 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 3.69%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Kentucky, this work ranks 401 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for production workers, all other in Kentucky, on $38,630, is $31,985 — equivalent to $35,355 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 $39,880 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Production Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,160 |
| This salary | $38,630 |
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 | $31,985 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,219 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,170 |
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 | $37,094 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,415 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,630 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,890 and the ninetieth is $47,160 — 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 $31,985, worked from $38,630. 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 401 of 491.
- Two cautions on $35,355, the adjusted value of that $38,630 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 401 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $38,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,890 to $47,160. 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 $31,985, on $38,630 for work ranking 401 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 401 of 491 in the state.
- This $35,355 adjusted figure, worked from $38,630, 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 401 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 401 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 $39,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $27,890 and the top tenth $47,160, 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 $35,355 in national terms.
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, $31,985 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 $39,880. 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 ($27,890 to $47,160) 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 $35,355 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 $31,985 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.