Surveying and Mapping Technicians in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,687
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,363
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,658
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
$46,050
Kept after tax
$37,687
Worth in national money
$41,658
State rank
49
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for surveying and mapping technicians is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $46,050. That is 49 of 50 states, and about 15.1% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 333 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 $46,050 you keep $37,687 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,658 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- For surveying and mapping technicians, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $46,050, ranking 49 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 15.1%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Surveying and mapping technicians ranks 333 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 $37,687 after the full tax stack, from $46,050. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,658 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Surveying and Mapping Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,020 |
| This salary | $46,050 |
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 | $37,687 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,181 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,338 |
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 | $44,190 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,618 |
| 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 $46,050. The published range is $37,070 up to $72,020, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $37,687 take-home in Kentucky comes from $46,050. 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 333 of 491.
- Two cautions on $41,658, the adjusted value of that $46,050 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 333 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for surveying and mapping technicians in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,070 to $72,020. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $37,687, from $46,050, 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 333 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 50 for it.
- This $41,658 adjusted figure, worked from $46,050, 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 333 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 333 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 $51,390, 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 $37,070, the highest tenth $72,020, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $41,658 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $37,687.
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 $51,390. 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 ($37,070) and the ninetieth ($72,020) 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 $41,658 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 $37,687 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.