Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,943
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$10,247
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,573
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
$54,190
Kept after tax
$43,943
Worth in national money
$48,573
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kentucky pays this job a middle wage of $54,190, 41 of 51 states and about 8.69% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 252 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $54,190 you keep $43,943, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $48,573 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $57,560, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Kentucky's $54,190 median for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors places it 41 of 51 states, about 8.69% 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.
- Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors ranks 252 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.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors on $54,190 is $43,943. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $48,573 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $57,560 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,070 |
| This salary | $54,190 |
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 | $43,943 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,722 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,522 |
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 | $51,976 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,840 |
| 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 $54,190. The published range is $35,150 up to $83,070, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $43,943, from $54,190, 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 252 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,573 uses one figure for the whole of Kentucky. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 252.
- Reported values are medians; for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,150 to $83,070. 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 $43,943 from $54,190. 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 252 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,573, worked from $54,190, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Kentucky address, on work sitting at 252 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 $57,560, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $35,150, the highest tenth $83,070, 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 $48,573.
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 $43,943 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 $57,560. 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 ($35,150) and the ninetieth ($83,070) 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 $48,573 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 $43,943 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.