Residential Advisors in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,552
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$4,708
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,245
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
$30,260
Kept after tax
$25,552
Worth in national money
$28,245
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays residential advisors a middle wage of $30,260, 50 of 51 states and about 28.36% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Kentucky this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, residential advisors ranks 466. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $30,260 you keep $25,552 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,245 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky's $30,260 median for residential advisors places it 50 of 51 states, about 28.36% 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.
- Against every occupation Kentucky reports, residential advisors ranks 466 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $25,552 after the full tax stack, from $30,260. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,245 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,560 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Residential Advisors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $19,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,740 |
| This salary | $30,260 |
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 | $25,552 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,494 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$981 |
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 | $29,088 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,186 |
| 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 $30,260. The published range is $19,600 up to $46,740, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kentucky's $25,552, worked from $30,260. 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 466 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,245, the adjusted value of that $30,260 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 466 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for residential advisors in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $19,600 to $46,740. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Kentucky take-home of $25,552, on $30,260 for work ranking 466 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 466 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $28,245 — the adjusted value of that $30,260 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 466 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 $31,560 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $19,600, the highest tenth $46,740, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $28,245.
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 $25,552.
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 $31,560. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($19,600) and the ninetieth ($46,740) 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 $28,245 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 $25,552 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.