Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,489
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$12,521
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,914
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
$64,010
Kept after tax
$51,489
Worth in national money
$56,914
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $64,010, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Kentucky reports figures for, this is number 165.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $64,010 you keep $51,489 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $56,914 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $65,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky occupies the middle band for telecommunications line installers and repairers: a median of $64,010, ranking 25 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Kentucky's occupational distribution, telecommunications line installers and repairers sits at 165 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $51,489 after the full tax stack, from $64,010. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $56,914 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $65,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,420 |
| This salary | $64,010 |
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 | $51,489 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,612 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,744 |
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 | $61,368 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,109 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $64,010 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,450 and the ninetieth is $91,420 — 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 $51,489, worked from $64,010. 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 165 of 491.
- Two cautions on $56,914, the adjusted value of that $64,010 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 165 of 491 locally.
- The Kentucky median of $64,010 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,450 to $91,420. 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 $51,489, on $64,010 for work ranking 165 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 165 of 491 in the state.
- This $56,914 adjusted figure, worked from $64,010, 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 165 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 165 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $42,450 at the bottom tenth to $91,420 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $56,914 in national terms.
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, $51,489 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($42,450) and the ninetieth ($91,420) 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 $56,914 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 $51,489 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.