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Taxi Driver Salary 2026 in Kentucky

BLS estimates the median taxi driver wage in Kentucky at $33,850 a year, about $16.27 an hour over a full-time year. BLS estimates 150 jobs in the state. The state median estimate is 19.6% below the national median of $42,100.

Estimated take home in Kentucky, a year

$28,305

On the state median of $33,850, after federal tax, Social Security, Medicare and Kentucky income tax. A single filer with a blank Form W-4: $1,088.65 a fortnight, an effective rate of 16.4%.

The spread in Kentucky

BLS publishes selected percentile estimates for the state, not only the median. The take home column applies the current Kentucky model to published numeric estimates; lower-bound rows stay uncalculated.

PercentileA yearEstimated take home
Lowest tenth$28,290$24,033
Lower quarter$28,670$24,325
Median$33,850$28,305
Upper quarter$36,760$30,543
Highest tenth$44,960$36,857

Kentucky against the states next door

The wage estimates are BLS’s. Take home is modeled only where BLS publishes a numeric median estimate; # lower bounds remain labelled and uncalculated.

StateMedianEstimated take home
Kentucky$33,850$28,305
Illinois$36,770$30,053
Missouri$37,560$31,531
Virginia$28,490$24,252

Relative to the state’s all-occupations estimate

BLS estimates the all-occupations median in Kentucky at $46,920. The published taxi driver median estimate is 0.72times that benchmark; nationally the corresponding ratio is 0.83. This ratio is a wage comparison only and does not adjust for cost of living or individual experience.

Modeled gross pay for selected take home targets in Kentucky

These are illustrative reverse calculations for a single filer using the deductions currently represented for Kentucky. An actual payroll result may differ.

Target take homeEstimated gross needed
$50,000$62,080
$60,000$76,370
$75,000$98,810
$100,000$136,650

The same rate at different hours

BLS converts the annual estimate using a 2,080-hour year. This table shows illustrative weekly-hour scenarios using the same hourly estimate and theKentucky deductions currently represented by the model.

Hours a weekGross a yearA fortnight
20$16,921$579.60
24$20,305$682.24
30$25,381$836.19
36$30,457$988.61
40$33,842$1,088.65
48$40,610$1,288.71

Put in your own hours

Seeded with the Kentucky median. Change the hours, your Form W-4 answers or the state.

$an hour

Estimated average take home pay, biweekly

$1,088.65

$33,841.60 a year gross; the model estimates $28,304.87 after the deductions shown. That is 83.6% of gross under these assumptions.

Gross pay$1,301.60
Federal income tax- $72.35
Social Security- $80.70
Medicare- $18.87
Kentucky income tax- $41.03
Take home$1,088.65

Worked out from: single filer · a blank Form W-4 · 40 hours a week.

  • Under the assumptions represented here, Kentucky's 3.5% withholding method after a $3,360 deduction produces the same amount as the site's return-side calculation before unmodelled factors. The Department notes that separate jobs can each apply the deduction, so a worker with two W-2s may need additional withholding. Local occupational licence taxes are not included.

About this calculator. It is general guidance, not a payslip. The figures are estimates based on selected 2026 federal and state publications and modeled assumptions. Sources, interpretations and code may be incomplete or wrong, and the result should not be relied on as an exact calculation of tax, payroll or anything else. Your employer knows things this page cannot: a mid-year rate change, a benefit deduction, a garnishment, a local tax, or what it has already withheld this year. Nothing here is tax, legal or financial advice, and using it creates no professional relationship. For anything that turns on the exact number, ask an accountant or a qualified adviser. Methodology and sources.

Pay history

Each numeric bar is the published Kentucky median estimate for taxi driver in that year’s release. A BLS # lower bound or a year without an exact result is labelled instead of silently dropped. Bars run from zero. The 2021 method break is marked, and the earlier published bars remain visible as historical context without being joined to the post-change calculations.

Published endpoint change
47.0%
From $23,020 in 2021 to $33,850 in 2025. The compound rate between those exact post-change endpoints is 10.1% a year; it is descriptive arithmetic, not a BLS time-series measure.
After inflation
23.1%
Adjusting the two published endpoints with the selected inflation series gives a descriptive increase from 2021 to 2025.
  1. 2021$23,020
  2. 2022$24,370
  3. 2023no national row
  4. 2024$28,510
  5. 2025$33,850

BLS changed the OEWS estimation method beginning with the May 2021 estimates. Pre-2021 bars remain as raw published reference points; the wage, inflation, and employment calculations use post-change endpoints only. BLS also explains that the survey’s pooled design and changes in methods or classifications limit comparisons over time. The chart itself contains no future data point.

BLS estimated employment at 13,950 in 2021 and 41,050 in 2025, a modeled change of 194.3% between the two published estimates.

Questions people ask

What is the median taxi driver salary in Kentucky?+

BLS estimates the median at $33,850 a year, about $16.27 an hour over a full-time year. The published mean estimate is $34,240. In the cited data, that median estimate is 19.6% below the national estimate of $42,100.

What is a taxi driver salary in Kentucky after taxes?+

Using the state median estimate and the page's default filing assumptions, the model estimates $28,305 a year after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Kentucky income tax. The corresponding modeled biweekly amount is $1,088.65.

What is the salary range for a taxi driver in Kentucky?+

The BLS lowest-tenth estimate is $28,290, and the highest-tenth estimate is $44,960. “At least” preserves the Bureau's # lower-bound marker; the figures are wage estimates rather than career stages.

Does a taxi driver earn more in Kentucky or nearby?+

Against the states it borders, Kentucky's median of $33,850 is below the highest neighboring median, Missouri at $37,560. The table also shows modeled take home estimates under the same assumptions; it is not a comparison of actual payslips.

Taxi Driver pay in other states

Or see taxi driver pay nationally and how Kentucky taxes any wage.

Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 53-3054. OEWS surveys wages in May and publishes about a year later, so this release appeared in May 2026 and is the most recent. Annual figures convert at 2,080 hours a year, as BLS states them. Tax is worked out here from the 2026 federal and Kentucky tables.