Marketing Specialist salary in Lexington-Fayette, KY

Pay in Lexington-Fayette against Kentucky and the US

Marketing specialists at the 90th percentile earn $156,200, 3.8 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 3.6. The middle half of marketing specialists in Lexington-Fayette earns $49,550–$86,870. The mean ($83,000) is 27% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $37,320 wide, between the figure for Kentucky ($30,340) and the US figure ($49,960).

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $15,730 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $21,590, or about $27,858 once benefits are added. 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 $78,760 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Lexington-Fayette, and the Kentucky statewide median of $61,480 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Lexington-Fayette

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $18,952 to the $65,280 median and brings it to $84,232 a year. 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 marketing specialists 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 Lexington-Fayette

Of the 17 roles we track in Lexington-Fayette, this one ranks #4 by median pay, between recruiters ($69,990) and executive assistants ($64,840). Project Coordinator is the highest at $84,520.

Measured against the US median, marketing specialists rank #15 of the 17 roles we track in Lexington-Fayette (-17.1%), between executive assistants (-15.3%) and project coordinators (-17.4%). The typical role here is at -7.8%, so, measured against the US, marketing specialists cost less in Lexington-Fayette than the area's general pay level would suggest. Marketing specialists hold 3.8% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Lexington-Fayette, 3.2% across Kentucky and 5.7% 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 $48,420 in the East Kentucky nonmetro area to $65,280 in Lexington-Fayette, a gap of $16,860 a year. The one area in Kentucky with more marketing specialists, Louisville, KY-IN ($63,280), pays less: a bigger pool at a lower median.

Lexington-Fayette against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Lexington-Fayette is #90 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Kentucky, Topeka and Missoula pay just above Lexington-Fayette and Elkhart-Goshen and Indianapolis-Carmel just below. All four are within $80 a year of the median in Lexington-Fayette. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, all three pay more.

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How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.