Registered Nurses in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,123
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$17,917
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,774
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
$81,040
Kept after tax
$63,123
Worth in national money
$69,774
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for registered nurses is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $81,040. That is 42 of 51 states, and about 16.92% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within Kentucky this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, registered nurses ranks 84 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $81,040 the take-home is $63,123; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $69,774 would nationally. The average comes to $86,140, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For registered nurses, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $81,040, ranking 42 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 16.92%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation Kentucky publishes a median for, registered nurses sits 84 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for registered nurses in Kentucky, on $81,040, is $63,123 — equivalent to $69,774 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 $86,140 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Registered Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,750 |
| This salary | $81,040 |
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 | $63,123 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,842 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,018 |
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 | $77,175 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,787 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kentucky earn less than $81,040. The published range is $64,170 up to $111,750, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $63,123, from $81,040, 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 84 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $69,774, the adjusted value of that $81,040 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 84 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for registered nurses in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $64,170 to $111,750. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,123 from $81,040. 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 84 of 491 locally.
- This $69,774 adjusted figure, worked from $81,040, 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 84 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 84 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 $86,140 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $64,170 at the bottom tenth to $111,750 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $69,774 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Kentucky then takes its own share, leaving $63,123.
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 $86,140. 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 ($64,170 to $111,750) 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 $69,774 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 $63,123 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.