Software Engineer Salary in Kentucky and How to Increase It

By | July 18, 2023
Software Engineer Salary in Kentucky
The State of Kentucky provides a good place to live and work in as a software engineer even with low salaries compared with other States.

The software engineer salary in Kentucky is $88,305 yearly.

This post provides complete information on the salary of software engineers in the State of Kentucky and the ways to increase it, including the cities and companies that pay the highest salaries to software engineers in the State of Kentucky.

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With $88,305 as yearly salary and $4000 as added bonus, Kentucky has a 20% lower than the US National average salary.

It is located in the East South Central States noted for low salaries but affordable standards of living.

It’s placed 18th on the ranking for States affordable to work and live in.

Software Engineer Salary across the State of Kentucky

Cities such as Russellville, Murray, and Georgetown are cities in Kentucky where software engineers get paid decently and live comfortable, compared to other cities within the State.

These cities are the trend setters for other cities in the State to emulate and look up to.

Highest Paying Cities for Software Engineers in Kentucky

Here are the highest paying cities in the State of Kentucky for software engineering job:

CitiesSalary Yearly ($)
Russellville100,895
Murray101,173
Georgetown88,559
Cold Springs84,421
Louisville83,757
Erlanger80,855
Covington78,267
Frankfort75,121
Owensboro73,084
Lexington67,643
Highest paying cities for software engineers in Kentucky

Software Engineer Salary Based on Skill in the State of Kentucky

Skill plays a very vital role in determining the salary of software engineers in Kentucky as much as experience.

Listed below are the top skills needed by software engineers to get higher salaries:

  • Scala skilled software engineers earn as add on to their salary 24.30%, which is $21,458 yearly.
  • Software engineers with OS Kernel skill earn 17.55%, which adds up to $15,897 yearly.
  • Big Data skilled software engineers earn 17.35%, which amounts to $15,320 yearly.
  • Microservices skilled software engineers earn 16.13%, which is a salary of $14,243 yearly.
  • Machine learning skilled engineers earn 11.71% and get $10,340 yearly.
  • Software engineers with data structures skill earn 10.99%, which totals $9,704 as yearly salary.

Software Engineer Salary Based on Experience in the State of Kentucky

Experience is a major factor to increasing your salary in the State of Kentucky as a software engineers.

Listed below are the earning potential of software engineers and the number of years of experience:

  • – 1 year earns a salary of $78,264.
  • 1 – 2 years of experience attracts salary of $80,409 yearly.
  • 3 – 5 years of experience earns a salary of $85,000 yearly.
  • 6 – 9 years of experience earns $91,931 yearly.
  • 10 years of experience earns the highest with $108,369 as yearly salary.

10 Highest Paying Companies for Software Engineers in Kentucky

The top 10 highest paying companies for software engineers in the State of Kentucky are stated out in a table format below, with the highest paying company on the top of the pile:

CompanySalary Yearly ($)
Citi190,755
Apple170,970
Facebook159,363
Octo Consulting Group153,511
Capital One149,667
Oracle143,525
Google136,698
Experian136,409
Salesforce136,169
NCR135,163
Companies in Kentucky that pay the highest salaries to software engineers

More Benefits for Software Engineers in Kentucky

Aside the salary and bonuses, software engineers also get benefits from the under listed in no particular order of importance:

  • Stock options. Software engineers get stock options from the company they work for; they get dividend as the company declares.
  • Cash bonus. The Kentucky software engineer is given as part of their benefits cash bonus at the end of the year. This can be for a job well done or completing an existing project.
  • Visa assistance. Kentucky software engineers get Visa assistance benefits from their parent company’s to help them attend seminars and meetings.
  • Referral programs. Software engineers in the State of Kentucky may get benefits from referring people to their company’s products or software applications.
  • Gym membership. The Kentucky software engineer may at times get out of shape mentally and physically. In other to curtail this, the engineer is given membership to gyms to help improve the body and mind through workouts and other methods.

What Related Job Titles to Software Engineer Earn In Kentucky

These are the earning potential of related jobs to software engineer in the State of Kentucky; the earnings are on yearly basis:

  • Backend Developer earns a yearly salary of $112,568.
  • Full Stack Developer earns a yearly income of $106,431.
  • Application Developer earns $76,962 yearly.
  • Frontend Developer earns a yearly $72,544 as salary.
  • Developer takes home $48,026 yearly.

Software Engineer Job and Salary Outlook in the State of Kentucky

The Kentucky software engineer’s salary is looking stagnated with the trend of people looking for a way to balance earnings and living condition.

Kentucky is a good State to work and live in as a Software engineer.

With a low salary ($86,609 yearly) and competing with other states in the region to attract tech companies and software engineers, Kentucky has a growth rate potential and has a ratio of 0.20 – 0.40 which is 93.8%.

The main attraction here is the affordable cost of living which is the State’s major selling point, but salaries may not rise due to its more inland location in the South.

How to Increase Your Salary as a Software Engineer in the State of Kentucky

The Kentucky State software engineer can help to increase his/her salary by undertaking the following ideas:

  • Acquire a higher degree. A relevant educational background is paramount to help get that pay rise you crave for as a software engineer in Kentucky.
  • Relocate to a bigger city. Living in some remote or isolated city will not help improve the salary of the software engineer in Kentucky, so move to the big cities where the big companies are located.
  • Work for companies paying high salaries. The big companies paying high are in the big cities, so seek to work for such big paying companies in Kentucky State.
  • Acquire the required set of skills. Getting a good set of necessary skills will greatly go a long way in boosting your chances of getting a high pay as a software engineer in Kentucky.
  • Connect with others in diverse fields. Don’t ignore the company of others in related professions as you can get linked to jobs not advertised, and such jobs can be lucrative.

More Career Opportunities for Software Engineer in the State of Kentucky

Software engineers in Kentucky State have the opportunity of career change by getting into related careers; some of these careers earn higher or lower than the software engineer:

  •  Aerospace engineer earns $103,000 yearly.
  • Mining and geological engineer earns $93,000 yearly.
  • Electrical engineer earns $87,000 yearly.
  • Civil engineer earns $84,000 yearly.

Conclusion

Kentucky is located in the Eastern South region of the US, a region noted for low salaries but affordable living conditions.

With the software engineer’s salary hovering in the region of $90,000 yearly and a 20% below national average, the State of Kentucky is a place to help the startup software engineer come to grips with living and working.

Information sources: bls.gov, indeed.com, insight.dice.com, ziprecuriter.com, careerexplorer.com.