What Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earn in Kenton County, KY
According to the latest federal wage data for the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area, the median pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY is $60,590 a year, or $29.13 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $48,520 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Kenton County, KY.
The mean wage is $63,170, which is 4.3% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 13,820 people working in this occupation across the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Kenton County, KY has roughly 171,288 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $45,920 a year ($22.08 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $81,620 or more ($39.24 an hour). That is a gap of $35,700 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $51,000 at the 25th percentile and $73,780 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.8 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY is $29.13. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $60,590, and the same salary is $5,049 a month before taxes or about $2,330 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $23.33 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers this way: "Drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). May be required to unload truck. Requires commercial drivers' license. Includes tow truck drivers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Check vehicles to ensure that mechanical, safety, and emergency equipment is in good working order"; "Maintain logs of working hours or of vehicle service or repair status, following applicable state and federal regulations"; "Obtain receipts or signatures for delivered goods and collect payment for services when required"; "Maneuver trucks into loading or unloading positions, following signals from loading crew and checking that vehicle and loading equipment are properly positioned".
Job outlook for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,221,200 jobs in 2025 to 2,305,000 in 2035, a change of +3.8%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 214,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.7% of current employment each year. About 7.3% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $58,640 for this occupation; the Kenton County, KY median of $60,590 is 3.3% above it.
How pay in Kenton County, KY compares
Compared with the Kentucky average
Kenton County, KY pays above the state benchmark. The Kentucky employment-weighted average for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $56,092; the local median of $60,590 beats it by $4,498, or 8.0%. Within Kentucky, Kenton County, KY already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $57,851 across the contiguous United States. At $60,590, Kenton County, KY pays $2,739 more, which is 4.7% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Kenton County, KY
Among the 582 occupations with published wages in Kenton County, KY, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers ranks number 283 by median pay, ahead of about 51% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $121,420 a year, which is $60,830 more than the median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $60,590 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $12,070 a year, which leaves $48,520, or $4,043 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $20 goes to taxes and $80 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $44,840. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,142, an effective 8.5% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,757 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $879. FICA totals $4,635, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Kentucky
Kentucky income tax on this salary is $2,293 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 45% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $191 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Kenton County, KY
IRS Statistics of Income data for Kenton County, KY show an average adjusted gross income of $95,949 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.3% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.4%, compared with the 8.5% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Kenton County, KY
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Kenton County, KY: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $48,520 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Kenton County, KY is $1,128 a month, or $13,536 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,442 a month. For Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, a one-bedroom absorbs 27.9% of take-home pay and 22.3% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.7% of gross pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Kentucky residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,351 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $524, for $1,874 in total. Gasoline in Kentucky averages $3.18 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,470.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $20,316 a year, 42% of take-home pay. That leaves $28,204 a year, or $2,350 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 46.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Kenton County, KY
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Kenton County, KY: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Kenton County, KY, set beside the Kentucky and national medians.
Property taxes in Kenton County, KY
Homeowners in Kenton County, KY pay a median of $2,395 a year in real estate taxes, 55% above the Kentucky median of $1,544 and 23% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $244,400, the median tax bill is 0.98% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers median of $60,590, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Kenton County, KY
Renters in Kenton County, KY pay a median gross rent of $1,069 a month in the Census survey, 11% above the Kentucky median of $967. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,128 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $244,400, 19% above the Kentucky median of $205,600. Median household income is $80,548, 26% above the Kentucky median of $63,726, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 16.8% of that income.
Commuting in Kenton County, KY
Workers in Kenton County, KY who travel to a workplace spend an average of 22.3 minutes each way, 7% below the Kentucky average of 24.0. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.1% of workers in Kenton County, KY work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers afford to live in Kenton County, KY?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $60,590 that ceiling is $1,515 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,128 is $387 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $21.69 an hour; the median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $29.13, which is 34% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $23.33 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 11.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,442 a month means $721 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,884 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $33,088.
How fast you can save
At $2,350 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers pay in Kenton County, KY
What is the hourly wage for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY?
The median is $29.13 per hour, based on $60,590 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $22.08 at the 10th percentile to $39.24 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $60,590 becomes $48,520 a year. That is $4,043 a month, $1,866 every two weeks or $933 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY?
Total taxes are $12,070 a year, an effective rate of 19.9%: $5,142 federal income tax, $4,635 FICA and $2,293 Kentucky income tax.
Is pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY above the Kentucky average?
Yes. The local median of $60,590 is +8.0% versus the Kentucky average of $56,092, a difference of $4,498 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers salary in Kenton County, KY?
A one-bedroom costs $1,128 a month against take-home pay of $4,043, which is 27.9% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,515 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kenton County, KY?
About $2,350 a month ($28,204 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,316 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Kenton County, KY at the 30% guideline?
$21.69 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,536 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $29.13.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Kentucky rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.