Lexington-Fayette, KY

Across all occupations in the Lexington-Fayette, KY metropolitan area, the median wage is $48,620 a year ($23.38 an hour) and the mean $62,210, May 2025. That median is −5% against the US median of $50,980 and +4% against Kentucky's $46,920. BLS counts 286,910 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is cardiologists; the largest is miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators.

All occupations: Lexington-Fayette, KY vs Kentucky and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Lexington-Fayette, KY area, Kentucky and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Lexington-Fayette, KY	Hourly	$13.86	$17.43	$23.38	$36.23	$49.71	$29.91	286,910
Lexington-Fayette, KY	Annual	$28,820	$36,260	$48,620	$75,360	$103,390	$62,210	286,910
Kentucky	Hourly	$13.45	$17.02	$22.56	$32.10	$47.30	$28.36	2,000,360
Kentucky	Annual	$27,970	$35,410	$46,920	$66,760	$98,380	$58,990	2,000,360
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

468 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profile: Kentucky. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Lexington-Fayette, KY

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Cardiologists	$558,180	$268.36	140
2	Physicians, All Other	$283,730	$136.41	820
3	Anesthesiologists	$273,190	$131.34	230
4	Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric	$256,240	$123.19	80
5	Nurse Anesthetists	$242,700	$116.68	270
6	Family Medicine Physicians	$237,650	$114.25	210
7	Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	$220,690	*	30
8	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$208,770	*	**
9	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$182,490	$87.74	30
10	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$180,790	$86.92	470
11	Chief Executives	$179,520	$86.31	270
12	Pediatricians, General	$165,300	$79.47	250
13	Natural Sciences Managers	$161,450	$77.62	100
14	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$161,170	$77.49	390
15	Emergency Medicine Physicians	$148,180	$71.24	160
16	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Kentucky	$144,160	$69.31	470
17	Fundraising Managers	$140,090	$67.35	60
18	Optometrists	$139,060	$66.85	40
19	Physics Teachers, Postsecondary	$138,980	*	50
20	Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary	$138,890	*	80

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Lexington-Fayette, KY

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in Kentucky	8,650	30.15	3.34	$59,730
2	General and Operations Managers in Kentucky	8,100	28.23	1.25	$80,440
3	Registered Nurses in Kentucky	8,070	28.15	1.29	$79,040
4	Retail Salespersons in Kentucky	7,810	27.22	1.09	$30,100
5	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Kentucky	5,500	19.16	0.77	$27,990
5	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Kentucky	5,500	19.15	1.01	$41,910
7	Stockers and Order Fillers in Kentucky	5,430	18.92	1.04	$37,080
8	Cashiers in Kentucky	5,250	18.28	0.92	$29,590
9	Customer Service Representatives in Kentucky	5,200	18.13	1.09	$39,160
10	Waiters and Waitresses in Kentucky	5,020	17.51	1.20	$34,910
11	Office Clerks, General in Kentucky	5,000	17.42	1.10	$40,250
12	Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Kentucky	4,600	16.03	2.59	$44,450
13	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Kentucky	4,460	15.54	1.17	$56,950
14	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Kentucky	3,410	11.90	0.84	$35,460
15	Nursing Assistants in Kentucky	3,250	11.33	1.22	$39,380
16	Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Kentucky	3,220	11.21	1.14	$44,910
17	Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in Kentucky	3,120	10.89	1.23	$48,000
18	First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers in Kentucky	3,090	10.76	1.16	$59,300
19	Cooks, Fast Food in Kentucky	3,040	10.60	2.57	$26,840
20	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Kentucky	2,990	10.44	0.38	$35,190

Most concentrated occupations in Lexington-Fayette, KY

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Surgeons, All Other	7.10	330	1.15	$128,960
2	Social Science Research Assistants	6.60	370	1.30	$51,780
3	Animal Trainers	5.82	200	0.70	$34,310
4	Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals	5.53	330	1.17	$39,330
5	Physical Scientists, All Other	5.13	210	0.74	$67,610
6	Animal Caretakers	4.88	2,400	8.38	$34,590
7	Cardiologists	4.37	140	0.49	$558,180
8	Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars	4.36	310	1.07	$63,500
9	General Internal Medicine Physicians	3.79	470	1.64	$180,790
10	Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	3.78	370	1.30	*

Occupation groups in Lexington-Fayette, KY

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$101,540	$116,750	18,590	64.78	0.90
Architecture and Engineering	$91,710	$94,420	5,430	18.91	1.12
Computer and Mathematical	$90,600	$98,490	6,150	21.44	0.63
Legal	$80,970	$103,130	1,870	6.52	0.78
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$79,040	$104,300	24,710	86.13	1.36
Business and Financial Operations	$75,130	$81,190	14,140	49.29	0.73
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$67,200	$77,330	2,600	9.06	0.96
Educational Instruction and Library	$60,820	$66,870	16,230	56.58	0.97
Community and Social Service	$57,760	$60,280	5,140	17.91	1.04
Production	$56,850	$57,690	23,080	80.45	1.46
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$56,270	$58,510	11,750	40.97	1.05
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$53,960	$64,490	3,290	11.46	0.87
Construction and Extraction	$53,170	$57,930	10,060	35.07	0.85
Office and Administrative Support	$44,980	$47,180	36,510	127.27	1.11
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$43,870	$46,330	630	2.19	0.78
Transportation and Material Moving	$43,780	$47,870	24,490	85.35	0.97
Healthcare Support	$39,670	$41,660	11,100	38.70	0.76
Protective Service	$38,900	$48,590	6,840	23.85	0.98
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$36,110	$37,580	7,460	26.01	0.89
Sales and Related	$35,370	$47,250	23,320	81.27	0.94
Personal Care and Service	$34,250	$37,050	6,890	24.00	1.15
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$29,290	$32,910	26,620	92.78	1.05

Every occupation in Kentucky, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 468 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Lexington-Fayette, KY estimates (area 30460).

*: Wage estimate not available.
**: Employment estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Lexington-Fayette, KY area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.