East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area Salaries

BLS nonmetropolitan reporting area wages for East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area (May 2025)

General and Operations Managers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area

General and Operations Managers publishes $64,860 here versus $105,770 nationally (-38.7%; 2,140metro-area jobs). Next is Fast Food and Counter Workers at $23,070 locally versus $31,200 nationally (-26.1%).

  1. General and Operations Managers$64,860 in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area sits 38.7% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,140 published local jobs).
  2. Fast Food and Counter Workers$23,070 in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area sits 26.1% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (2,010 published local jobs).
  3. Registered Nurses$73,520 in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area sits 24.6% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (3,190 published local jobs).
  4. Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants$35,300 in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area sits 23.1% below the national Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants median of $45,930 (2,020 published local jobs).

General and Operations Managers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.

BLS OEWS metro wage desk

MSA 2100004 · East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area $49K mean

MEAN-TRACE · RPP-UNK · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-UNK · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST

  • MEAN-TRACE #492/528
  • RPP-UNK RPP n/a
  • OCC-MID 251 occs
  • TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $364K
  • EMP-MIX Nurse Practi…
  • TREND-UNK Pay chg n/a
  • PHOTO-FINISH Upper East Missi…
  • BOOK-MOST 247 rows · May 2025

Read with Upper East Mississippi nonmetropolitan area ($8 on published-row mean) · Understanding BLS wage data

Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer — not a moving recommendation.

Published-row mean neighbourhood around East Kentucky nonmetropolit…

Guayama, PR · lowest mean: $32KGuayama, PR · lowest mean$32KEast Kentucky nonmet… · this MSA: $49KEast Kentucky nonmet… · this…$49KUpper East Mississip… · near: $49KUpper East Mississip… · near$49KAnniston-Oxford, AL · near: $49KAnniston-Oxford, AL · near$49KFlorence-Muscle Shoa… · near: $49KFlorence-Muscle Shoa… · near$49KValdosta, GA · near: $49KValdosta, GA · near$49KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean: $119KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · high…$119K
Read the chart as text
Label Value
Guayama, PR · lowest mean $32K
East Kentucky nonmet… · this MSA $49K
Upper East Mississip… · near $49K
Anniston-Oxford, AL · near $49K
Florence-Muscle Shoa… · near $49K
Valdosta, GA · near $49K
San Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean $119K

Largest published OEWS rows in this nonmetropolitan area

Nurse Practitioners and Pharmacists lead published employment inside East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.

  1. 1. Nurse Practitioners 510 jobs · $124,920
  2. 2. Pharmacists 370 jobs · $134,040
  3. 3. Industrial Production Managers 220 jobs · $126,050
  4. 4. Financial Managers 180 jobs · $106,080
  5. 5. Sales Managers 150 jobs · $104,690
  6. 6. Occupational Therapists 140 jobs · $95,580
  7. 7. Family Medicine Physicians 130 jobs · $283,070
  8. 8. Software Developers 130 jobs · $104,920
  9. 9. Physicians, All Other 100 jobs · $364,180
  10. 10. Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators 100 jobs · $94,520
  11. 11. Civil Engineers 100 jobs · $91,660
  12. 12. Administrative Services Managers 80 jobs · $90,250
  13. 13. General Internal Medicine Physicians 70 jobs · $263,160
  14. 14. Physician Assistants 70 jobs · $111,420
  15. 15. First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives 70 jobs · $104,170
  16. 16. Chief Executives 60 jobs · $143,130
  17. 17. Financial and Investment Analysts 50 jobs · $92,590
  18. 18. Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers 50 jobs · $90,290

Occupations Tracked

251

with wage data

Published-Row Mean

$48,881

employment-weighted, 247 complete rows

Top Salary

$364,180

Physicians, All Other

Top-pay occupations in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area, by employment

Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.

# Occupation Median Salary
1 Nurse Practitioners $124,920
2 Pharmacists $134,040
3 Industrial Production Managers $126,050
4 Financial Managers $106,080
5 Sales Managers $104,690
6 Occupational Therapists $95,580
7 Family Medicine Physicians $283,070
8 Software Developers $104,920
9 Physicians, All Other $364,180
10 Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators $94,520
11 Civil Engineers $91,660
12 Administrative Services Managers $90,250
13 General Internal Medicine Physicians $263,160
14 Physician Assistants $111,420
15 First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives $104,170
16 Chief Executives $143,130
17 Financial and Investment Analysts $92,590
18 Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers $90,290
19 Dentists, General $161,620
20 Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates $141,750
21 Computer and Information Systems Managers $121,920
22 Computer Network Architects $106,300
23 Postmasters and Mail Superintendents $94,740
24 Education Administrators, Postsecondary $99,290
25 Veterinarians $95,760

Lowest Paying Jobs in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area

Other BLS Wage Areas in KY

Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.

Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale

Two OEWS peer sets outside KY. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($48,881 here) and summed published employment.

Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.

Frequently Asked Questions

What average wage does BLS publish for this nonmetropolitan area?
BLS does not publish a single All Occupations mean for every nonmetropolitan reporting area on this page. WageDex's employment-weighted mean of the 247 published occupation means with employment estimates is $48,881/year (OEWS May 2025). That figure covers only occupations BLS published for this local area — 251 rows carry a median here. Averaging the 25 highest medians alone yields $133,844, which describes the displayed top tier only.
What is the highest paying job in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area?
The highest paying occupation in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area is Physicians, All Other with a median salary of $364,180/year. The second highest is Family Medicine Physicians at $283,070/year.
What jobs pay the least in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area?
The lowest paying occupation in East Kentucky nonmetropolitan area is Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants with a median salary of $20,850/year according to BLS data.
Where do these nonmetropolitan wage rows come from?
Every occupation wage on this page is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimates for BLS nonmetropolitan reporting areas. OEWS surveys about 1.1 million establishments; nonmetro tables use BLS's balance-of-state geography, not a city MSA. WageDex does not invent missing occupations — only published rows appear.

Related federal data

Last updated: May 2025 (BLS OEWS annual release). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The local-area benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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