Best states for therapist pay / Kentucky
Where therapists earn the most in Kentucky
Elizabethtown pays the most on paper. Paducah is where it goes furthest — $111,485 after tax and cost of living.
Pay after state income tax, divided by local cost of living. Hatched areas have no cost-of-living index.
One dot per metro, sized by how many physical therapists work there.
Hover or tap any area to see its full breakdown.
Every Kentucky area, ranked
By real value. Each profession ranked on its own.
Physical therapists
| # | Area | Median | After tax | Cost of living | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paducah | $99,330 | $95,971 | 86.1 | $111,485 |
| 2 | Elizabethtown | $104,280 | $100,748 | 90.6 | $111,235 |
| 3 | Huntington-Ashland | $98,220 | $94,900 | 88.4 | $107,326 |
| 4 | Louisville/Jefferson County | $102,260 | $98,799 | 93.1 | $106,150 |
| 5 | Cincinnati | $102,890 | $99,406 | 95.4 | $104,232 |
| 6 | Clarksville | $97,810 | $94,504 | 90.9 | $103,911 |
| 7 | Lexington-Fayette | $94,710 | $91,513 | 92.9 | $98,518 |
| 8 | Bowling Green | $91,590 | $88,502 | 90.2 | $98,140 |
| 9 | Owensboro | $83,270 | $80,473 | 88.6 | $90,817 |
| — | South Central Kentuckyno COL data | $103,170 | $99,677 | — | — |
| — | Central Kentuckyno COL data | $101,190 | $97,766 | — | — |
| — | West Kentuckyno COL data | $98,850 | $95,508 | — | — |
| — | East Kentuckyno COL data | $90,010 | $86,977 | — | — |
Ranked by real value — pay after Kentuckyincome tax, divided by that area's cost of living. Rows marked “no COL data” are BLS nonmetropolitan regions, which BEA publishes no price index for; their pay is shown but they are left unranked rather than compared against a borrowed average.
Occupational therapists
| # | Area | Median | After tax | Cost of living | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington-Ashland | $98,930 | $95,585 | 88.4 | $108,101 |
| 2 | Paducah | $94,250 | $91,069 | 86.1 | $105,791 |
| 3 | Owensboro | $95,740 | $92,507 | 88.6 | $104,398 |
| 4 | Louisville/Jefferson County | $100,040 | $96,656 | 93.1 | $103,849 |
| 5 | Clarksville | $97,470 | $94,176 | 90.9 | $103,551 |
| 6 | Cincinnati | $100,870 | $97,457 | 95.4 | $102,188 |
| 7 | Elizabethtown | $95,550 | $92,323 | 90.6 | $101,934 |
| 8 | Lexington-Fayette | $95,820 | $92,584 | 92.9 | $99,672 |
| 9 | Bowling Green | $84,250 | $81,419 | 90.2 | $90,286 |
| — | Central Kentuckyno COL data | $97,170 | $93,887 | — | — |
| — | South Central Kentuckyno COL data | $95,860 | $92,623 | — | — |
| — | East Kentuckyno COL data | $95,580 | $92,352 | — | — |
| — | West Kentuckyno COL data | $92,300 | $89,187 | — | — |
Ranked by real value — pay after Kentuckyincome tax, divided by that area's cost of living. Rows marked “no COL data” are BLS nonmetropolitan regions, which BEA publishes no price index for; their pay is shown but they are left unranked rather than compared against a borrowed average.
Speech-language pathologists
| # | Area | Median | After tax | Cost of living | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington-Ashland | $98,700 | $95,363 | 88.4 | $107,850 |
| 2 | Louisville/Jefferson County | $103,420 | $99,918 | 93.1 | $107,353 |
| 3 | Clarksville | $93,370 | $90,220 | 90.9 | $99,200 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | $95,930 | $92,690 | 95.4 | $97,190 |
| 5 | Lexington-Fayette | $87,470 | $84,526 | 92.9 | $90,997 |
| 6 | Bowling Green | $82,870 | $80,087 | 90.2 | $88,809 |
| 7 | Owensboro | $81,270 | $78,543 | 88.6 | $88,639 |
| 8 | Elizabethtown | $79,380 | $76,719 | 90.6 | $84,705 |
| 9 | Paducah | $73,900 | $71,431 | 86.1 | $82,978 |
| — | Central Kentuckyno COL data | $78,170 | $75,552 | — | — |
| — | West Kentuckyno COL data | $76,010 | $73,467 | — | — |
| — | South Central Kentuckyno COL data | $74,990 | $72,483 | — | — |
| — | East Kentuckyno COL data | $74,620 | $72,126 | — | — |
Ranked by real value — pay after Kentuckyincome tax, divided by that area's cost of living. Rows marked “no COL data” are BLS nonmetropolitan regions, which BEA publishes no price index for; their pay is shown but they are left unranked rather than compared against a borrowed average.
Physical therapist assistants (PTA)
| # | Area | Median | After tax | Cost of living | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Owensboro | $62,860 | $60,778 | 88.6 | $68,590 |
| 2 | Bowling Green | $62,740 | $60,662 | 90.2 | $67,268 |
| 3 | Cincinnati | $65,170 | $63,007 | 95.4 | $66,065 |
| 4 | Paducah | $58,720 | $56,782 | 86.1 | $65,962 |
| 5 | Huntington-Ashland | $59,930 | $57,950 | 88.4 | $65,538 |
| 6 | Lexington-Fayette | $62,730 | $60,652 | 92.9 | $65,295 |
| 7 | Elizabethtown | $60,560 | $58,558 | 90.6 | $64,654 |
| 8 | Louisville/Jefferson County | $61,830 | $59,784 | 93.1 | $64,232 |
| 9 | Clarksville | $59,160 | $57,207 | 90.9 | $62,901 |
| — | Central Kentuckyno COL data | $65,560 | $63,383 | — | — |
| — | West Kentuckyno COL data | $59,220 | $57,265 | — | — |
| — | South Central Kentuckyno COL data | $58,340 | $56,416 | — | — |
| — | East Kentuckyno COL data | $56,670 | $54,804 | — | — |
Ranked by real value — pay after Kentuckyincome tax, divided by that area's cost of living. Rows marked “no COL data” are BLS nonmetropolitan regions, which BEA publishes no price index for; their pay is shown but they are left unranked rather than compared against a borrowed average.
Occupational therapy assistants (COTA)
| # | Area | Median | After tax | Cost of living | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Owensboro | $70,840 | $68,478 | 88.6 | $77,280 |
| 2 | Louisville/Jefferson County | $67,840 | $65,583 | 93.1 | $70,464 |
| 3 | Cincinnati | $67,460 | $65,217 | 95.4 | $68,383 |
| 4 | Lexington-Fayette | $65,210 | $63,045 | 92.9 | $67,872 |
| 5 | Huntington-Ashland | $60,740 | $58,732 | 88.4 | $66,422 |
| 6 | Bowling Green | $61,690 | $59,648 | 90.2 | $66,145 |
| 7 | Clarksville | $60,520 | $58,519 | 90.9 | $64,345 |
| — | Central Kentuckyno COL data | $65,220 | $63,055 | — | — |
| — | West Kentuckyno COL data | $60,600 | $58,597 | — | — |
| — | South Central Kentuckyno COL data | $59,540 | $57,574 | — | — |
Ranked by real value — pay after Kentuckyincome tax, divided by that area's cost of living. Rows marked “no COL data” are BLS nonmetropolitan regions, which BEA publishes no price index for; their pay is shown but they are left unranked rather than compared against a borrowed average.
How this is calculated
Median pay is the median annual wage from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (May 2025 release), for each profession in each Kentucky area.
After taxsubtracts modeled state income tax for a single filer taking the standard deduction, computed at each area's own median wage rather than copied down from the state figure. Federal tax and FICA are excluded — they don't vary by area, so they don't change the ranking.
Real valuedivides after-tax pay by that metro's own cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parities for 2024, where the US average is 100. Metro-grain, not the statewide figure used on the national map.
Map areas are the exact areas BLS reports wages for, built by dissolving Census county boundaries with the BLS OEWS area definitions — so the map and the wage data describe the same geography by construction.
Metros that cross a state line — the New York and Philadelphia metros on this page, for example — carry one BLS wage figure covering the whole metro, and their state income tax is modeled at Kentuckyrates, which is the right read for a clinician living on this side of the line. They're marked in the table.
Limits: single filer only; BLS blends full-time, part-time and PRN and every experience level into one median; and 4 nonmetropolitan regions carry BLS pay but no cost-of-living index, so they are shown unranked rather than estimated. This is a comparison of typical pay, not personalized tax advice.
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