Veterinarians in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,538
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$25,562
24.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$86,814
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
$104,100
Kept after tax
$78,538
Worth in national money
$86,814
State rank
43
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for veterinarians is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $104,100. That is 43 of 49 states, and about 19.98% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Kentucky reports, veterinarians comes in at 33 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Kentucky is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $104,100 the take-home is $78,538; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $86,814 would nationally. The average comes to $112,730, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For veterinarians, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $104,100, ranking 43 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 19.98%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Veterinarians ranks 33 of 491 occupations by median in Kentucky, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for veterinarians in Kentucky, on $104,100, is $78,538 — equivalent to $86,814 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 $112,730 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Veterinarians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $169,220 |
| This salary | $104,100 |
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 | $78,538 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,064 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,363 |
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 | $99,088 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,265 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $104,100 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $44,200 and the ninetieth is $169,220 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $78,538 take-home in Kentucky comes from $104,100. 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 33 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $86,814, the adjusted value of that $104,100 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 33 of 491 in the state.
- The Kentucky median of $104,100 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $44,200 to $169,220. 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 $78,538, from $104,100, 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 33 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $86,814 — the adjusted value of that $104,100 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 33 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 $112,730, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $44,200 at the bottom tenth to $169,220 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $86,814.
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, $78,538 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $112,730. 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 ($44,200) and the ninetieth ($169,220) 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 $86,814 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 $78,538 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.