- The middle half earn between $35.76 and $64.53 an hour.
- Kentucky is 47th of the 50 states and DC, in the bottom ten for this trade.
- Kentucky pays more than 1 of its 7 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 2,990 general contractors on payrolls in Kentucky.
- At the state median wage, a general contracting business needs to bill about $152.50 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
General Contractor pay in Kentucky, bottom to top
BLS has no separate wage figure for general contractors. These are its numbers for construction managers, the group BLS files general contractors under. They count managers on a payroll, so owners who run their own contracting business are not in them.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $25.89 | $53,850 | $33.50 |
| 25th percentile | $35.76 | $74,380 | $42.57 |
| Median | $46.64 | $97,020 | $55.28 |
| 75th percentile | $64.53 | $134,230 | $72.91 |
| 90th percentile | $94.00 | $195,530 | $91.08 |
| Average (mean) | $53.56 | $111,410 | $59.79 |
Pay spreads out a lot in Kentucky. The bottom tenth earn $25.89 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $94.00 or more, a gap of 3.6 times against 2.7 nationally. Where a general contractor sits on that range matters as much as the state.
The bottom of the scale is lower than nationally ($25.89 against $33.50) while the top is higher ($94.00 against $91.08), so the climb from new hire to top earner is longer here.
The average wage, $53.56, sits 15% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical general contractor makes.
How Kentucky compares with other states
Over a full year, the Kentucky median of $97,020 is $17,970 less than the national $114,990.
In the state ranking, Kentucky sits 47th, between Iowa ($47.73) and Alabama ($46.61). The range runs from $41.50 in Arkansas to $74.69 in New York.
Against its neighboring states, Kentucky is in the middle: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia pay more, and West Virginia pays less.
BLS wages are not adjusted for living costs. Lower pay often comes with lower housing costs, so the gap in take-home value can be smaller than the gap in wages.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Kentucky |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | $46.64 | $97,020 | |
| Illinois | $52.48 | $109,160 | +$5.84 an hour |
| Indiana | $51.15 | $106,390 | +$4.51 an hour |
| Missouri | $53.96 | $112,230 | +$7.32 an hour |
| Ohio | $49.03 | $101,980 | +$2.39 an hour |
| Tennessee | $52.98 | $110,200 | +$6.34 an hour |
| Virginia | $57.26 | $119,110 | +$10.62 an hour |
| West Virginia | $46.03 | $95,740 | −$0.61 an hour |
How many general contractors work in Kentucky
About 2,990 general contractors work on payrolls in Kentucky, 0.8% of the 380,360 nationwide, the 31st largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 1.5 per 1,000 jobs, 0.61 times the national share.
What a general contracting business in Kentucky should charge
A lower wage helps the price less than you might expect, because the overhead does not shrink with it. Here is a general contracting business in Kentucky paying the state median of $46.64, on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $46.64 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $104,433 |
| Break-even rate | ($104,433 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $129.62 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $129.62 ÷ 0.85 | $152.50 |
That is $152.50 per billable hour, 3.3 times the wage, and $15.17 less than the $167.67 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $64.53 in Kentucky, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $183.91.
At this wage the pay itself is the biggest part of the price, so every raise shows up in the rate: a dollar more an hour adds about $1.76 per billed hour.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a general contractor in Kentucky
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how general contractors run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 11-9021, construction managers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: general contractor salary by state.