Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,462
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$11,308
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,463
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
$58,770
Kept after tax
$47,462
Worth in national money
$52,463
State rank
7
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $58,770, which ranks 7 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 13.87% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 228 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $58,770 you keep $47,462 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $52,463 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $56,210.
- Kentucky ranks 7 of 50 states publishing a median for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, at $58,770 — about 13.87% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 228 of 491 occupations in Kentucky by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $47,462 after the full tax stack, from $58,770. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $52,463 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $56,210 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,310 |
| This salary | $58,770 |
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 | $47,462 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,402 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,625 |
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 | $56,356 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,966 |
| 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 $58,770. The published range is $45,160 up to $71,310, 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 $47,462, worked from $58,770. 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 228 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,463, the adjusted value of that $58,770 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 228 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,160 to $71,310. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Kentucky take-home of $47,462, on $58,770 for work ranking 228 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 228 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $52,463 — the adjusted value of that $58,770 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 228 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $56,210, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,160 and the top tenth $71,310, 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 $52,463 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, $47,462 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $56,210. 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 ($45,160 to $71,310) 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 $52,463 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 $47,462 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.