Accountant salary in Paducah, KY-IL

Pay in Paducah against Kentucky and the US

Accountants at the 90th percentile earn $120,790, 2.5 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.6. The middle half of accountants in Paducah earns $60,230–$95,070. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $34,840 wide, against $35,740 across Kentucky and $42,790 nationally: employers in Paducah pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an accountant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $21,420 over the median, the 25th only $13,420 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $27,639 a year in employer cost. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $83,680 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Paducah, and the Kentucky statewide median of $75,270 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Paducah

At the $73,650 median, a local hire costs about $95,032 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $21,382 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for accountants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Paducah

Of the 15 roles we track in Paducah, this one ranks #2 by median pay, after project coordinators ($78,090); recruiters come next at $64,500.

Measured against the US median, accountants rank #4 of the 15 roles we track in Paducah (-12.0%), between bookkeepers (-8.6%) and administrative assistants (-12.0%). The typical role here is at -16.5%, so, measured against the US, accountants cost more in Paducah than the area's general pay level would suggest. Accountants hold 5.8% of the jobs in these 15 roles in Paducah, 6.1% across Kentucky and 9.2% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Kentucky

Across the 10 areas of Kentucky with data for this job, the median runs from $64,450 in the East Kentucky nonmetro area to $77,800 in Owensboro, a gap of $13,350 a year. Of the 7 areas in Kentucky with more accountants than Paducah, 5 pay less, the largest of them the Central Kentucky nonmetro area ($70,670), the South Central Kentucky nonmetro area ($70,620) and the West Kentucky nonmetro area ($68,080).

Paducah against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Paducah is #472 of 521 US areas for this job. The market is small, and its pay sits near the middle of the US range. Outside Kentucky, Deltona-Daytona Beach and Jacksonville pay just above Paducah and Columbus and Waterloo-Cedar Falls just below. All four are within $120 a year of the median in Paducah. Of the three markets with about as many accountants, none pays as much.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-13.