United States · Kentucky · Updated for 2026
Kentucky paycheck calculator 2026
On Kentucky’s median pay of $46,920 in 2026, a single filer in Kentucky takes home $38,355.62 a year ($1,475.22 every two weeks), after $3,450.40 federal income tax, $3,589.38 Social Security and Medicare, and $1,524.60 of Kentucky tax.
Change the pay, schedule, filing status or deductions below to see your own paycheck. It works as a Kentucky salary calculator too: type a yearly salary or an hourly rate.
Take-home pay, 2026 · Kentucky · single · paid every two weeks
$1,475.22 a paycheck
$38,355.62 a year · $3,196.30 a month · $18.44 an hour
| Per paycheck | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay before tax | $1,804.62 | $46,920.00 |
| Federal income tax | −$132.71 | −$3,450.40 |
| Social Security | −$111.89 | −$2,909.04 |
| Medicare | −$26.17 | −$680.34 |
| Kentucky income tax | −$58.64 | −$1,524.60 |
| Take-home pay | $1,475.22 | $38,355.62 |
An estimate of the year’s tax divided evenly across your 26 paychecks, not your employer’s exact withholding table. An hour assumes 40 hours a week for 52 weeks.
Estimate your 2026 tax refund on this pay, with the new deductions for tips and overtime.
Local tax not included
Many Kentucky cities and counties, including Louisville Metro and Lexington-Fayette, also take an occupational license tax from wages, paid to the local government rather than on the state return; this calculator leaves it out.
Federal income tax
Taxable income: $46,920 of pay after pre-tax deductions, less the $16,100 standard deduction for single = $30,820.
| Income in bracket | Tax | |
|---|---|---|
| 10% bracket | $12,400 | $1,240.00 |
| 12% bracket | $18,420 | $2,210.40 |
| Federal income tax for the year | $3,450.40 |
Social Security and Medicare
- Social Security: 6.2% = $2,909.04 a year.
- Medicare: 1.45% of all pay = $680.34 a year.
Kentucky tax
Kentucky taxes $46,920 of your pay, less the $3,360 standard deduction: $43,560 of taxable income.
Kentucky income tax: $1,524.60 a year.
Your tax rates
- Effective rate: 18.3%. That share of your pay goes in federal, state and payroll taxes.
- Marginal rate: 23.1%. Of your next dollar of pay, about 23 cents goes in tax, so you keep about 77 cents.
What are Kentucky’s income tax rates for 2026?
Kentucky has one rate, 3.5%, on your pay after a standard deduction of $3,360. There are no brackets. Single filers and heads of household get the same deduction (Kentucky files a head of household as single), and a married couple’s joint return gets one $3,360 deduction between them.
On low pay, the Family Size Tax Credit takes off some or all of the tax: all of it on income up to $15,960 for one person or $21,640 for a married couple, then a smaller share in steps, and nothing above $21,227 ($28,781 for a couple).
How much tax do I pay on $46,920 in Kentucky?
$46,920 is the median yearly pay for all jobs in Kentucky (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025). A single filer paid every two weeks, with nothing taken before tax:
| Year | Per paycheck | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay before tax | $46,920.00 | $1,804.62 |
| Federal income tax | $3,450.40 | $132.71 |
| Social Security | $2,909.04 | $111.89 |
| Medicare | $680.34 | $26.17 |
| Kentucky income tax | $1,524.60 | $58.64 |
| Take-home pay | $38,355.62 | $1,475.22 |
Effective rate: 18.3% of pay in tax. Of the next dollar, about 23 cents goes in tax. Open this example in the paycheck calculator.
What is different about paychecks in Kentucky?
If both of you work, a married couple can file “separately on a combined return” and take a $3,360 deduction each. That saves $117.60 a year compared with a joint return. This calculator works out a joint return with one earner, so a two-earner couple pays a little less than it shows.
Kentucky has been lowering its rate step by step, and a 2025 law set 3.5% for 2026. On $60,000 of pay, a single filer owes $1,982.40 a year in state tax.
Kentucky’s standard deduction is small: $3,360, against $16,100 for federal tax. So almost all of your pay is taxed, even at a low rate.
Kentucky does not tax military pay: active-duty, reserve and National Guard pay are all exempt.
How does Kentucky compare with Ohio and Tennessee?
The same $46,920 salary, single, paid every two weeks:
| State tax and contributions a year | Take-home a year | Per paycheck | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | $1,524.60 | $38,355.62 | $1,475.22 |
| Ohio | $846.80 | $39,033.42 | $1,501.29 |
| Tennessee | none | $39,880.22 | $1,533.85 |
You take home $677.80 a year less in Kentucky than in Ohio.
You take home $1,524.60 a year less in Kentucky than in Tennessee.
What does this calculator leave out in Kentucky?
- The bigger Family Size Tax Credit for families with children (the calculator counts one person, or two for a married couple).
- The second standard deduction a two-earner couple gets by filing separately on a combined return.
- The small personal credits for people who are 65 or older, blind or in the National Guard, and other credits and deductions.
- Dependents, and credits such as the child tax credit.
- One job for the whole calendar year, with the same pay every paycheck, no bonus and no overtime.
- A married couple filing jointly is one earner: the whole household income is this pay.
- The year’s tax is divided evenly across your paychecks. Your employer withholds from each paycheck using your W-4 and the IRS tables, so a paycheck can differ a little.
The full list is on the sources page, and the method on how we calculate.
Which other states can I check?
- Alabama state income tax
- Alaska no income tax
- Arizona state income tax
- Arkansas state income tax
- California state income tax
- Colorado state income tax
- Connecticut state income tax
- Delaware state income tax
- District of Columbia state income tax
- Florida no income tax
- Georgia state income tax
- Hawaii state income tax
- Idaho state income tax
- Illinois state income tax
- Indiana state income tax
- Iowa state income tax
- Kansas state income tax
- Louisiana state income tax
- Maine state income tax
- Maryland state income tax
- Massachusetts state income tax
- Michigan state income tax
- Minnesota state income tax
- Mississippi state income tax
- Missouri state income tax
- Montana state income tax
- Nebraska state income tax
- Nevada no income tax
- New Hampshire no income tax
- New Jersey state income tax
- New Mexico state income tax
- New York state income tax
- North Carolina state income tax
- North Dakota state income tax
- Ohio state income tax
- Oklahoma state income tax
- Oregon state income tax
- Pennsylvania state income tax
- Rhode Island state income tax
- South Carolina state income tax
- South Dakota no income tax
- Tennessee no income tax
- Texas no income tax
- Utah state income tax
- Vermont state income tax
- Virginia state income tax
- Washington no income tax
- West Virginia state income tax
- Wisconsin state income tax
- Wyoming no income tax
Every state on one page: the US paycheck calculator. How the taxes work: US paycheck guides.
Pay by job: the highest paying jobs in Kentucky after tax, and 830 jobs with their pay in every state. Your federal refund for 2026, with the new deductions: the tax refund calculator.
On an hourly wage? The Kentucky minimum wage, with full-time pay and take-home pay.
Questions about paychecks in Kentucky
How much is taken out of a paycheck in Kentucky?
On $46,920 a year, single, paid every two weeks: $132.71 federal income tax, $138.05 Social Security and Medicare and $58.64 for Kentucky (income tax) a paycheck, leaving $1,475.22.
What is the take-home pay on $100,000 in Kentucky?
$75,797.60 a year, or $2,915.29 every two weeks, for a single filer with nothing taken before tax.
Is Kentucky state tax taken out of every paycheck?
Yes. Employers in Kentucky withhold state income tax from each paycheck along with federal tax. This calculator spreads the year’s tax evenly across your paychecks, so a single paycheck can differ a little.
What is Kentucky’s income tax rate in 2026?
3.5%, one rate for everyone, on income after the $3,360 standard deduction.
Should a married couple in Kentucky file jointly?
If you both have income, filing separately on a combined return lets each of you take the $3,360 standard deduction, and Kentucky’s own instructions say it usually gives the lower tax.
What is the Family Size Tax Credit?
A Kentucky credit for low incomes. A single person with income up to $15,960, or a married couple up to $21,640, owes no Kentucky income tax. Above that the credit shrinks, and it ends at $21,227 for one person and $28,781 for a couple. Children make the family bigger and the limits higher.