2026 Kentucky paycheck calculator
Kentucky takes a flat 3.5 percent after a $3,360 standard deduction, and children do not change it.
Updated for 2026Checked Oct 29, 2026 against IRS and Kentucky Department of Revenue sourcesHow we check
Your take-home pay
$1,241.12
per paycheck, paid every two weeks
- Gross pay
- $1,500.00
- Federal income tax
- $96.15
- Social Security
- $93.00
- Medicare
- $21.75
- County tax
- Choose your county
- Take-home
- $1,241.12
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Take-home pay $1,241.12
Kentucky pay rules at a glance
| State income tax | Flat rate Source |
| County or local tax | Kentucky cities, counties, and urban-county governments may charge a local occupational license tax, a percentage of gross wages that the employer withholds for the place where the work is done, and school districts may add their own occupational tax of up to 0.5 percent; from January 1, 2027 no school district may start a new one or raise its rate. Rates differ by place: Louisville Metro (all of Jefferson County) takes 2.2 percent from residents and 1.45 percent from nonresidents, who do not pay its school board share. County rates outside cities are capped at 1 percent in counties of 30,000 or more people, and the Secretary of State lists every taxing district with its forms. Source |
| Disability or paid leave | None Source |
| Minimum wage | $7.25 an hour Source |
| Tipped minimum cash wage | $2.13 an hour, before tips Source |
| Final paycheck if you are let go | All wages earned, by the next normal payday after the dismissal or 14 days after it, whichever comes later. Source |
| Final paycheck if you quit | Same rule: by the next normal payday after the worker leaves or 14 days after leaving, whichever comes later. Source |
What comes out of a Kentucky paycheck
On $1,500 every two weeks, single, a Kentucky worker keeps $1,241.12.
Kentucky taxes wages at a flat 3.5 percent in 2026, after a standard deduction of $3,360 that every worker gets. Form K-4 has no filing status, no allowance line, and no dependents line, so single, married, and head of household workers are withheld the same way. Dependents do not change Kentucky withholding. Family size matters only if you check Box 1 to claim exemption, which you can do when you expect to owe no Kentucky tax.
The state's formula does not subtract your federal tax. The Department also publishes wage-bracket tables, built from the middle of each wage band, and they can differ from the formula by a few cents. The calculator follows the formula. The formula's notes say a worker with more than one W-2 job may need an extra $117.60 a year withheld.
The formula document says nothing about bonuses, so we cannot say how Kentucky withholds on them. The rate for 2027 and later could also drop only if the legislature passes a new law, and the 2027 formula is not yet out.
County and local taxes
Kentucky cities, counties, and urban-county governments may charge a local occupational license tax. It is a percentage of gross wages, and your employer withholds it for the place where the work is done. School districts may add their own occupational tax of up to 0.5 percent, though from January 1, 2027 no school district may start a new one or raise its rate.
Rates differ by place. Louisville Metro, which covers all of Jefferson County, takes 2.2 percent from residents and 1.45 percent from nonresidents, who do not pay its school board share. We read those two figures in the Revenue Commission's 2025 instructions, because its 2026 pages sat behind a browser check, so confirm them for this year. County rates outside cities are capped at 1 percent in counties of 30,000 or more people.
The Secretary of State lists every taxing district with its forms. No single statewide rate table exists, so look up your own place. The result does not include them, so add your own place's tax to the figure shown.
Final pay and the minimum wage
Expect $7.25 as the minimum wage in Kentucky and $2.13 as the tipped cash wage, with tips on top.
If you are dismissed, all wages you earned are due by the next normal payday after the dismissal or 14 days after it, whichever comes later. A resignation follows identical timing, counted from the day you leave.
Nearby states
Sources and checks
Checked on Oct 29, 2026. Source: KRS 141.020(2)(f) (apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=56339, saved as data/sources/kentucky/statutes/KRS-141.020.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026): "For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, the tax shall be three and one-half percent (3.5%) of net income." Kentucky Department of Revenue, 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula, 42A003 (TCF)(10-2025) (revenue.ky.gov/Forms/2026%20Withholding%20Formula.pdf, saved as data/sources/kentucky/2026-withholding-formula.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026): "2026 Kentucky Standard Deduction: $3,360" and "2026 Kentucky Tax Rate: 3.5% of taxable income". The Department's Employer Payroll Withholding page (saved as data/sources/kentucky/employer-payroll-withholding.html) also says "The Kentucky Withholding Tax rate will be 3.5% for tax year 2026."
Local taxes: KRS 67.780 (saved as data/sources/kentucky/statutes/KRS-67.780.pdf): "Every employer making payment of compensation to an employee shall deduct and withhold upon the payment of the compensation any tax imposed against the compensation by a tax district." KRS 92.281(1) (cities of all classes may levy the taxes in Section 181 of the Kentucky Constitution, including license fees and occupational taxes, saved as KRS-92.281.pdf); KRS 91.200 (city license taxes in cities of the first class, saved as KRS-91.200.pdf); KRS 68.197(2) (counties of 30,000 or more: license fees on "salaries, wages, commissions, and other compensation earned by persons within the county" at "a percentage rate not to exceed one percent (1%)", saved as KRS-68.197.pdf); KRS 160.605 and 160.607(1) (school district occupational license tax "at a single uniform rate not to exceed one-half of one percent (0.5%)", saved as KRS-160.605.pdf and KRS-160.607.pdf; KRS 160.607(3), amended by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 161 effective April 14, 2026: "Beginning on or after January 1, 2027: (a) A school tax is not authorized to be imposed ... in a school district that does not already have one imposed; and (b) The rate of a school tax imposed ... shall never increase"), all from apps.legislature.ky.gov, read Oct 29, 2026. Louisville Metro Revenue Commission, OL-3D Instructions 2025 (louisvilleky.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/ol-3d_instructions_2025.pdf, saved as data/sources/kentucky/lmrc-ol-3d-instructions-2025.pdf): "The Occupational License Tax rate for business entities and individual residents of Louisville Metro is 2.2% (.0220) of compensation or net profit. The non-resident rate for individuals is 1.45% (.0145). Non-resident individuals do not pay the school board tax." Kentucky Secretary of State, Occupational Taxes (web.sos.ky.gov/occupationaltax/, saved as data/sources/kentucky/sos-occupational-tax-database.html): "Pursuant to KRS 67.766, occupational license tax forms for each Kentucky taxing district that imposes such a tax are now available online," followed by the list of districts.
Disability and paid leave: Kentucky has no state disability or paid-family-leave insurance program funded by an employee payroll deduction: no such program appears in the Kentucky Revised Statutes chapters on wages and hours (KRS Chapter 337), unemployment compensation (KRS Chapter 341), or income tax withholding (KRS Chapter 141), checked against the chapter indexes at apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/ on Oct 29, 2026, and the Department of Revenue's 2026 withholding formula and Form K-4 list no deduction besides state income tax.
Minimum wage: KRS 337.275(1) (apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=32064, saved as data/sources/kentucky/statutes/KRS-337.275.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026): "not less than seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) an hour beginning July 1, 2009," rising only if the federal minimum rises. Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, Wages and Hours FAQ (elc.ky.gov/Workplace-Standards/Pages/Wages-and-Hours.aspx, saved as data/sources/kentucky/elc-wages-and-hours.html): "Effective July 1, 2009, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour." No increase is scheduled for 2027. Tipped workers: KRS 337.275(2) lets an employer of a worker who regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips pay "the hourly wage rate required to be paid a tipped employee under the federal minimum hourly wage law," which is $2.13 (29 U.S.C. 203(m)), provided wages plus tips reach $7.25.
Final paycheck: KRS 337.055 (apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=32050, saved as data/sources/kentucky/statutes/KRS-337.055.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026): "Any employee who leaves or is discharged from his employment shall be paid in full all wages or salary earned by him; not later than the next normal pay period following the date of dismissal or voluntary leaving or fourteen (14) days following such date of dismissal or voluntary leaving whichever last occurs."
Federal withholding: IRS Publication 15-T (2026), Worksheet 1A and its "2026 Percentage Method Tables for Automated Payroll Systems and Withholding on Periodic Payments of Pensions and Annuities," pages 10 to 12. Fetched directly from irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15t.pdf and transcribed Oct 28, 2026.
Every figure above comes from the sources listed here. How we check our numbers.
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