Hourly pay after taxes in Kentucky
$20 an hour in Kentucky comes to $1,317.97 every two weeks after federal and state taxes, before any local tax, for a single person working full time.
Updated for 2026Checked Oct 29, 2026 against IRS and Kentucky Department of Revenue sourcesHow we check
Take-home pay by hourly wage, 2026
| Wage | Two weeks | Month | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| $7.25 | $519.85 | $1,126 | $13,516 |
| $18.00 | $1,195.01 | $2,589 | $31,070 |
| $20.00 | $1,317.97 | $2,856 | $34,267 |
| $22.00 | $1,440.93 | $3,122 | $37,464 |
| $25.00 | $1,625.37 | $3,522 | $42,260 |
| $30.00 | $1,932.77 | $4,188 | $50,252 |
| $35.00 | $2,215.94 | $4,801 | $57,614 |
| $40.00 | $2,483.34 | $5,381 | $64,567 |
| $50.00 | $3,018.14 | $6,539 | $78,472 |
Every column after the wage is take-home pay. Each row assumes 40 hours a week all year, one paycheck every two weeks, single, no dependents, and no benefits taken out. The monthly and yearly columns are that paycheck times 26. Use the paycheck calculator for your own hours and deductions.
Kentucky's local occupational license taxes are not in these figures. They are a percentage of gross wages withheld for the place where the work is done, and the rate depends on the city, county, and school district. See Kentucky's local tax rules, or try the paycheck calculator.
What comes out of an hourly paycheck
At $25 an hour, a two-week paycheck in Kentucky starts at $2,000.00 and ends at $1,625.37.
| Federal income tax | $156.15 |
| Social Security | $124.00 |
| Medicare | $29.00 |
| Kentucky income tax | $65.48 |
For 2026 Kentucky taxes wages at one flat rate, 3.5 percent, once a $3,360 standard deduction that every worker gets has come off. Federal withholding, Social Security, and Medicare are taken as well, and no disability or leave premium joins them. What Kentucky has instead is local: cities, counties, and urban-county governments may charge an occupational license tax on gross wages, withheld for the place where the work is done.
The state line is simple, and the local line is the part that varies, so a Kentucky check can be smaller than this table shows.
What changes your number
In Kentucky the place you work can matter more than the wage. School districts may add an occupational tax of up to 0.5 percent as well, though from January 1, 2027 no school district may start a new one or raise its rate. Outside cities, a county of 30,000 or more people cannot go above 1 percent.
Louisville shows how far it spreads. Louisville Metro takes 2.2 percent from residents and 1.45 percent from nonresidents, who do not pay its school board share. The state's Secretary of State keeps a list of every taxing district and its forms. The flat state rate and the single standard deduction mean the state side needs no allowances at all.
Hours matter too. At $20 an hour and 30 hours a week instead of 40, a two-week paycheck in Kentucky comes to $1,010.57.
The minimum wage in Kentucky
The minimum wage in Kentucky is $7.25 an hour, and a full-time worker at $7.25 takes home about $1,126 a month. It has stood since July 1, 2009, rises only if the federal minimum does, and has no increase scheduled for 2027.
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."
Disability: 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.
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.
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.
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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