What Retail Salespersons earn in Jessamine County, KY
The median pay for Retail Salespersons in Jessamine County, KY is $30,100 per year, which works out to $14.47 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Lexington-Fayette, KY metropolitan area, the labor market that Jessamine County, KY belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $33,390, which is 10.9% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,810 people working in this occupation across the Lexington-Fayette, KY metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Jessamine County, KY has roughly 54,588 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Retail Salespersons in the Lexington-Fayette, KY metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,880 a year ($11.00 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $44,500 or more ($21.39 an hour). That is a gap of $21,620 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $27,120 at the 25th percentile and $35,760 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $14.47 an hour or $30,100 a year at the median for Jessamine County, KY. Before any deductions, that is $2,508 a month, $1,158 every two weeks and $579 each week. After taxes the same job pays $12.13 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Retail Salespersons
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Retail Salespersons this way: "Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs"; "Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices"; "Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment"; "Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations".
Job outlook for Retail Salespersons
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 3,998,100 jobs in 2025 to 3,984,100 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 520,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,410 for this occupation; the Jessamine County, KY median of $30,100 is 15.0% below it.
How pay in Jessamine County, KY compares
Compared with the Kentucky average
Pay for Retail Salespersons in Jessamine County, KY is in line with the statewide figure: $30,100 locally against an employment-weighted Kentucky average of $29,929, a difference of only $171 (0.6%). Within Kentucky, the highest median we track for this job is $30,810 in Kenton County, KY.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Retail Salespersons is $34,080 across the contiguous United States. At $30,100, Jessamine County, KY pays $3,980 less, which is 11.7% below 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 Jessamine County, KY
Among the 425 occupations with published wages in Jessamine County, KY, Retail Salespersons ranks number 413 by median pay, ahead of about 3% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $80,440 a year, which is $50,340 more than the median for Retail Salespersons.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Retail Salespersons earning the Jessamine County, KY median of $30,100, they add up to $4,859. The result is $25,241 of take-home pay a year ($2,103 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $14,350. 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 $1,484, an effective 4.9% 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 $1,866 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $436. FICA totals $2,303, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Kentucky
Kentucky income tax on this salary is $1,073 a year, or 3.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 72% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $89 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 Jessamine County, KY
IRS Statistics of Income data for Jessamine County, KY show an average adjusted gross income of $87,856 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.7% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.0%, compared with the 4.9% 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 Jessamine County, KY
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Jessamine County, KY: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $25,241 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Jessamine County, KY, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,205 a month ($14,460 a year), and at $1,416 for two bedrooms. For Retail Salespersons, a one-bedroom absorbs 57.3% of take-home pay and 48.0% 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 11.4% of gross pay for Retail Salespersons in Jessamine 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
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $21,240 a year in Jessamine County, KY. Subtract that from $25,241 of take-home pay and $4,001 remains, which is $333 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 13.3% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Jessamine County, KY
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Jessamine 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 Jessamine County, KY, set beside the Kentucky and national medians.
Property taxes in Jessamine County, KY
Homeowners in Jessamine County, KY pay a median of $1,960 a year in real estate taxes, 27% above the Kentucky median of $1,544 and 37% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $268,100, the median tax bill is 0.73% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Retail Salespersons median of $30,100, a tax bill of that size would equal 6.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Jessamine County, KY
Renters in Jessamine County, KY pay a median gross rent of $1,124 a month in the Census survey, 16% above the Kentucky median of $967. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,205 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 $268,100, 30% above the Kentucky median of $205,600. Median household income is $74,576, 17% above the Kentucky median of $63,726, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 19.4% of that income.
Commuting in Jessamine County, KY
Workers in Jessamine County, KY who travel to a workplace spend an average of 23.8 minutes each way, in line with the Kentucky average of 24.0. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.2% of workers in Jessamine County, KY work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Retail Salespersons afford to live in Jessamine 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 $30,100 that ceiling is $753 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,205 is $453 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $23.17 an hour; the median for Retail Salespersons is $14.47, which is 38% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $12.13 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 22.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,416 a month means $708 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,964 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $9,965.
How fast you can save
At $333 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 30 months (2.5 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 60 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Retail Salespersons pay in Jessamine County, KY
How much do Retail Salespersons make per hour in Jessamine County, KY?
The median is $14.47 per hour, based on $30,100 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $11.00 at the 10th percentile to $21.39 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Retail Salespersons take home after taxes in Jessamine County, KY?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $30,100 becomes $25,241 a year. That is $2,103 a month, $971 every two weeks or $485 a week.
How much tax do Retail Salespersons pay in Jessamine County, KY?
Total taxes are $4,859 a year, an effective rate of 16.1%: $1,484 federal income tax, $2,303 FICA and $1,073 Kentucky income tax.
Do Retail Salespersons earn more in Jessamine County, KY than elsewhere in Kentucky?
It is about the same. The local median of $30,100 is within 0.6% of the Kentucky average of $29,929.
Can Retail Salespersons afford a one-bedroom apartment in Jessamine County, KY?
A one-bedroom costs $1,205 a month against take-home pay of $2,103, which is 57.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $753 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Retail Salespersons in Jessamine County, KY?
About $333 a month ($4,001 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,240 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Jessamine County, KY at the 30% guideline?
$23.17 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,460 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Retail Salespersons is $14.47.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Lexington-Fayette, KY 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.