Surveyors in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$56,973
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$14,867
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,975
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
$71,840
Kept after tax
$56,973
Worth in national money
$62,975
State rank
33
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Kentucky is 33 of 50 states for surveyors, with a middle wage of $71,840. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Kentucky reports figures for, this is number 123.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $71,840 the take-home is $56,973; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $62,975 would nationally. The average lands at $70,020, below the middle of the range.
- Kentucky ranks 33 of 50 for surveyors at $71,840. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Kentucky's occupational distribution, surveyors sits at 123 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for surveyors in Kentucky, on $71,840, is $56,973 — equivalent to $62,975 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 $70,020 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Surveyors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $71,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,330 |
| This salary | $71,840 |
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 | $56,973 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,369 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,880 |
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 | $68,433 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,597 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $71,840 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,000 and the ninetieth is $101,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $56,973 take-home in Kentucky comes from $71,840. 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 123 of 491.
- Two cautions on $62,975, the adjusted value of that $71,840 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 123 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $71,840 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,000 to $101,330. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $56,973, from $71,840, 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 123 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 50 for it.
- This $62,975 adjusted figure, worked from $71,840, 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 123 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 123 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $39,000 at the bottom tenth to $101,330 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $62,975 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $56,973 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($39,000) and the ninetieth ($101,330) 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 $62,975 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 $56,973 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.