Lexington-Fayette, KY Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Lexington-Fayette, KY - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Lexington-Fayette, KY moved from $47,580 in May 2024 to $48,620 in May 2025 (+2.2%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Lexington-Fayette, KY sits -0.9 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Lexington-Fayette, KY
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators publishes $59,730 here versus $44,650 nationally (+33.8%; 8,650metro-area jobs). Next is General and Operations Managers at $80,440 locally versus $105,770 nationally (-23.9%).
- Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$59,730 in Lexington-Fayette, KY sits 33.8% above the national Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators median of $44,650 (8,650 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$80,440 in Lexington-Fayette, KY sits 23.9% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (8,100 published local jobs).
- Food Preparation Workers$27,340 in Lexington-Fayette, KY sits 22.6% below the national Food Preparation Workers median of $35,320 (2,310 published local jobs).
- Registered Nurses$79,040 in Lexington-Fayette, KY sits 19.0% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (8,070 published local jobs).
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Lexington-Fayette, KY; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 30460 · Lexington-Fayette, KY $62K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #155/528
- RPP-LOW 92.9
- OCC-MOST 468 occs
- TOP-LEAD Cardiologists · $558K
- EMP-MIX Pharmacists
- TREND-INLINE -0.9 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Salisbury, MD
- BOOK-FULL 461 rows · May 2025
Read with Salisbury, MD ($62 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
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 Lexington-Fayette, KY
Employment scale inside Lexington-Fayette, KY's top-pay list
Pharmacists and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Lexington-Fayette, KY's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Pharmacists 1,060 jobs · $136,530
- 2. Financial Managers 940 jobs · $135,760
- 3. Physicians, All Other 820 jobs · $283,730
- 4. General Internal Medicine Physicians 470 jobs · $180,790
- 5. Computer and Information Systems Managers 470 jobs · $144,160
- 6. Architectural and Engineering Managers 390 jobs · $161,170
- 7. Nurse Anesthetists 270 jobs · $242,700
- 8. Chief Executives 270 jobs · $179,520
- 9. Pediatricians, General 250 jobs · $165,300
- 10. Anesthesiologists 230 jobs · $273,190
- 11. Family Medicine Physicians 210 jobs · $237,650
- 12. Education Administrators, Postsecondary 200 jobs · $137,250
- 13. Emergency Medicine Physicians 160 jobs · $148,180
- 14. Cardiologists 140 jobs · $558,180
- 15. Natural Sciences Managers 100 jobs · $161,450
- 16. Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric 80 jobs · $256,240
- 17. Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary 80 jobs · $138,890
- 18. Psychiatrists 70 jobs · $132,450
Occupations Tracked
468
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$61,892
employment-weighted, 461 complete rows
Top Salary
$558,180
Cardiologists
Cost of Living
92.9
7% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Lexington-Fayette, KY
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiologists | $558,180 |
| 2 | Physicians, All Other | $283,730 |
| 3 | Anesthesiologists | $273,190 |
| 4 | Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric | $256,240 |
| 5 | Nurse Anesthetists | $242,700 |
| 6 | Family Medicine Physicians | $237,650 |
| 7 | Economics Teachers, Postsecondary | $220,690 |
| 8 | Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers | $208,770 |
| 9 | Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric | $182,490 |
| 10 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $180,790 |
| 11 | Chief Executives | $179,520 |
| 12 | Pediatricians, General | $165,300 |
| 13 | Natural Sciences Managers | $161,450 |
| 14 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $161,170 |
| 15 | Emergency Medicine Physicians | $148,180 |
| 16 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $144,160 |
| 17 | Fundraising Managers | $140,090 |
| 18 | Optometrists | $139,060 |
| 19 | Physics Teachers, Postsecondary | $138,980 |
| 20 | Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary | $138,890 |
| 21 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $137,250 |
| 22 | Pharmacists | $136,530 |
| 23 | Financial Managers | $135,760 |
| 24 | Psychiatrists | $132,450 |
| 25 | Psychologists, All Other | $130,400 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Lexington-Fayette, KY
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $24,090 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $24,990 |
| Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other | $25,020 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $26,840 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $26,940 |
| Food Preparation Workers | $27,340 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $27,920 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $27,990 |
| Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | $28,380 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $29,180 |
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 ($61,892 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
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
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Related federal data
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro 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.