Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,534
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$5,606
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,541
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
$34,140
Kept after tax
$28,534
Worth in national money
$31,541
State rank
48
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 $34,140, 48 of 51 states and about 10.51% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Kentucky this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 449. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Kentucky does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $34,140 you keep $28,534, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,541 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $33,710, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Kentucky's $34,140 median for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers places it 48 of 51 states, about 10.51% 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.
- Against every occupation Kentucky reports, veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers ranks 449 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Kentucky income tax, retained pay for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers on $34,140 is $28,534. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,541 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 $33,710 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,430 |
| This salary | $34,140 |
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 | $28,534 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,611 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,068 |
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 | $32,799 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,292 |
| 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 $34,140. The published range is $26,520 up to $45,430, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $28,534 take-home in Kentucky comes from $34,140. 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 449 of 491.
- Two cautions on $31,541, the adjusted value of that $34,140 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 449 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $26,520 to $45,430. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $28,534, from $34,140, 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 449 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 51 for it.
- This $31,541 adjusted figure, worked from $34,140, 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 449 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 449 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $26,520 at the bottom tenth to $45,430 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,541.
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 $28,534 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($26,520 to $45,430) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kentucky rather than a national figure.
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 $31,541 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 $28,534 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.