Engineers, All Other Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $100K, rent takes 17.8% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,110/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new engineers, all others typically earn — is $61K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $3,669/month. At HUD’s $1,110/month FMR, rent would take 30% of that take-home — manageable on an entry-level income.

Local pay runs 19% below the national median — $100K here vs. $123K nationally. Cost of living is 10% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Kentucky pays $100K median vs. the U.S. average of $123K — that’s -19%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 90.23), the purchasing-power equivalent is $111K — below the national median.

The median is $99,830 a year, that works out to about $48 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $61,150, and experienced engineers, all others can clear $152,970. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $6,219/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,110/month, which eats 17.8% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Kentucky has a Regional Price Parity of 90.23 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median engineers, all other salary is worth about $110,639 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.