Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,104
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$5,476
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,065
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
$33,580
Kept after tax
$28,104
Worth in national money
$31,065
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays shuttle drivers and chauffeurs a middle wage of $33,580, 38 of 51 states and about 9.95% 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, shuttle drivers and chauffeurs ranks 453. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $33,580 you keep $28,104 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $31,065 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $34,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky's $33,580 median for shuttle drivers and chauffeurs places it 38 of 51 states, about 9.95% 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, shuttle drivers and chauffeurs ranks 453 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 $28,104 after the full tax stack, from $33,580. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,065 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $34,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,120 |
| This salary | $33,580 |
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 | $28,104 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,162 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,056 |
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 | $32,264 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,277 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,580 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $24,960 and the ninetieth is $44,120 — 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 $28,104, worked from $33,580. 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 453 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,065, the adjusted value of that $33,580 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 453 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $33,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $24,960 to $44,120. 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 $28,104, on $33,580 for work ranking 453 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 453 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $31,065 — the adjusted value of that $33,580 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 453 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $24,960 at the bottom tenth to $44,120 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 $31,065 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $28,104 remains.
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 ($24,960 to $44,120) 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 $31,065 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 $28,104 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.