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Frankfort, Kentucky Paycheck Calculator (2026)

Enter your annual salary below to see your Frankfort, Kentucky take-home pay after federal, state, FICA, and city/local taxes for 2026.

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Franklin County may layer a separate county-level OLT on wages earned outside Frankfort city limits; that overlay is not modeled by the calculator.

Quick answer

Effectively yes. Frankfort, Kentucky's state capital, levies a 1.85% occupational license tax on wages earned within city limits, work-location based. At $85,000 single, take-home is $64,198 after federal tax, FICA, Kentucky's flat state line, and the Frankfort OLT.

Frankfort sits in Franklin County between Louisville and Lexington as Kentucky's state capital and levies a 1.85% occupational license tax on wages earned within city limits. The OLT applies uniformly to residents and to non-residents who work in the city. The Capitol complex above downtown houses the General Assembly, the Governor's office, and state executive agencies. Buffalo Trace Distillery, the National Historic Landmark in Frankfort, produces Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Blanton's, and the Pappy Van Winkle bourbons; the distillery has operated continuously on the site since 1773, making it one of the oldest continuously operating distilleries in the US. Daniel Boone's grave sits in Frankfort Cemetery on a bluff above the Kentucky River. Kentucky State University, one of the two historically Black colleges and universities in Kentucky, runs its campus on the city's east side. Disability insurance is privately funded for Kentucky workers. On $85,000 single, federal income tax is $9,870, with Kentucky state tax at $2,857, FICA combined at $6,503, and the Frankfort OLT line at $1,573, for take-home of $64,198. Try the calculator above with a different salary to see how the Frankfort state-and-OLT math scales.

$85,000 single filer take-home comparison

Frankfort, Kentucky

$64,200

Kentucky (no city tax)

$65,800

Texas (no income tax)

$68,600

Frankfort, Kentucky take-home is -$1,600 vs the state-only figure and -$4,400 vs the no-income-tax baseline.

Frankfort, Kentucky local tax breakdown

Local bracket schedule applied by the calculator for 2026.

Taxable IncomeRate
$0+1.85%

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Frankfort, Kentucky take-home pay using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security up to the annual wage base, Medicare on all wages, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the filing-status threshold), Kentucky's state income tax schedule, the Frankfort, Kentucky local income tax. It excludes employer-side payroll taxes, custom W-4 elections, supplemental-wage handling for bonuses or equity vesting, and income from sources other than W-2 wages. Per-city resident and non-resident rules are described in the prose above where they differ.

Frankfort, Kentucky paycheck FAQ

What is the federal tax bill on $85,000 single in Frankfort?
On $85,000 single, federal income tax comes to $9,870, with the top slice in the 22% bracket after the standard deduction. Federal mechanics apply uniformly across all states, so a Frankfort single filer sees the same federal line as a Louisville or Lexington counterpart at this gross.
Do state employees working at the Capitol pay the Frankfort OLT?
Yes. Frankfort's 1.85% OLT applies to wages earned within city limits, including the state employees working at the Capitol complex and at state-agency offices. The city collects through employer withholding at the source. At $85,000, the Frankfort OLT line resolves to $1,573 on the year.
Are Buffalo Trace Distillery wages subject to the Frankfort OLT?
Yes. Buffalo Trace and other Frankfort-area distillery wages fall under the Frankfort OLT at the source, since the distillery and warehouses sit within city limits. The bourbon industry's wage base is a meaningful slice of the local employment footprint, even with state government as the largest single employer.
How much does a 401(k) contribution save at $85,000 in Frankfort?
Traditional 401(k) and HSA contributions trim federal and Kentucky taxable income at the 25.5% combined marginal rate that applies at $85,000. Frankfort's OLT, generally computed on gross compensation, does not shrink with pre-tax deferrals in the same way, so the city line stays roughly flat with deferral changes.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Frankfort?
The MFJ take-home at $85,000 comes to $68,228, separated by $4,030 from the single estimate. Wider federal MFJ brackets and the doubled federal standard deduction drive most of the change. Kentucky's flat state rate is filing-status-neutral, and the Frankfort 1.85% OLT scales per worker across all four filing statuses. Head of Household reaches about $67,120, around $2,922 more than Single, and combined two-return MFS take-home lands about $4,030 less than MFJ.
How does Frankfort compare to Lexington?
Lexington-Fayette levies an OLT above Frankfort's 1.85%, with the merged urban-county government applying the rate to the entire Fayette County area. A Frankfort resident at $85,000 keeps more after the OLT line than a Lexington-Fayette counterpart on the same gross. The two cities sit 25 miles apart along I-64 with shared central Kentucky labor markets.

See also

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Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Frankfort, Kentucky paycheck page is reviewed against primary federal, state, and city sources before each major tax-year update. Source links below are the references used to validate brackets, wage bases, and supported local taxes.

Reviewed by

PaycheckCalc Research Desk

Last reviewed

2026-06-25