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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, And Kettle Operators And Tenders Salary: Texas vs Kentucky

Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, And Kettle Operators And Tenders earn a median of $43,080 in Texas and $75,220 in Kentucky. That is a nominal gap of $32,140 (-42.7%), with Kentucky paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$43,080
Texas median
$44,386 after COL
$75,220
Kentucky median
$83,430 after COL
-42.7%
Nominal gap
Kentucky leads
-46.8%
Adjusted gap
Kentucky leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Kentucky pays $32,140 more per year than Texas for furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders, a gap of +42.7%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Kentucky still comes out ahead, with roughly $39,044 of extra purchasing power (+46.8% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, And Kettle Operators And Tenders

Texas

Median salary
$43,080
Mean salary
$46,510
Employment
920
Location quotient
0.63
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$44,386
Regional Price Parity
97.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, And Kettle Operators And Tenders page for Texas →

Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, And Kettle Operators And Tenders

Kentucky

Median salary
$75,220
Mean salary
$68,620
Employment
260
Location quotient
1.24
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$83,430
Regional Price Parity
90.2%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, And Kettle Operators And Tenders page for Kentucky →

Related pages

Keep digging into furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.