Structural Iron and Steel Workers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,528
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$12,532
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,957
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
$64,060
Kept after tax
$51,528
Worth in national money
$56,957
State rank
25
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky sits in the middle of the pack for structural iron and steel workers. The median is $64,060, ranking 25 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Structural iron and steel workers ranks 164 among 491 occupations Kentucky publishes pay for.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $64,060 the take-home is $51,528; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $56,957 would nationally. The average comes to $66,980, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Kentucky occupies the middle band for structural iron and steel workers: a median of $64,060, ranking 25 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 164 of 491 in Kentucky places structural iron and steel workers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for structural iron and steel workers in Kentucky, on $64,060, is $51,528 — equivalent to $56,957 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 $66,980 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Structural Iron and Steel Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,360 |
| This salary | $64,060 |
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 | $51,528 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,652 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,745 |
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 | $61,416 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,110 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of structural iron and steel workers in Kentucky earn under $64,060 and half over. The published range runs $48,240 at the tenth percentile to $98,360 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $51,528 take-home in Kentucky comes from $64,060. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 164 of 491.
- Two cautions on $56,957, the adjusted value of that $64,060 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 164 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for structural iron and steel workers in Kentucky, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,240 to $98,360; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $51,528, from $64,060, assumes a single Kentucky filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 164 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 50 for it.
- This $56,957 adjusted figure, worked from $64,060, 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 164 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 164 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 $66,980, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,240 and the top tenth $98,360 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $56,957 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Kentucky adds its own income tax on top — which is why $51,528 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $66,980. 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 ($48,240) and the ninetieth ($98,360) 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 $56,957 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 $51,528 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.