Kentucky · BLS May 2025
Also called line cook, cook. SOC 35-2014.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 13,510 cooks, restaurant working in Kentucky. Here is what they are paid, what the median leaves after federal, state and FICA tax, and what that is worth against local prices.
Median pay · Kentucky
$34,640A year, or $16.65 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileEntry and lowest-paid | $24,750 | $11.90 |
| 25th percentile | $28,850 | $13.87 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $34,640 | $16.65 |
| 75th percentile | $37,200 | $17.88 |
| 90th percentileMost experienced and senior | $43,750 | $21.03 |
| MeanThe average, pulled up by the top | $33,700 | $16.20 |
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
A $34,640 salary in Kentucky, for one single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026.
Prices in Kentucky sit at 90.2 against a national average of 100, so $34,640 earned here buys what $38,421 buys at national average prices.
Common questions
The median wage for restaurant cooks in Kentucky is $34,640 a year, or $16.65 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
On the median wage of $34,640, one filer taking the standard deduction keeps about $28,918 a year, or roughly $2,410 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 16.5%.
Kentucky takes $1,095 of it in state income tax.
No. The median in Kentucky is 7.4% below the national median of $37,390.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Kentucky sit at 90.2 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
It is 0.54 times the median household income of $63,726. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Kentucky run at 90.2 against a national average of 100, with rents at 64.3, so $34,640 here buys about what $38,421 buys at national average prices.
The top tenth earn $43,750 a year or more, against $24,750 at the bottom tenth.
Experience, specialism, employer and the part of Kentucky someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
The survey counted 13,510 of these jobs in Kentucky for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 26% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.
Sources