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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Umpires, Referees, And Other Sports Officials Salary: Washington vs Kentucky

Umpires, Referees, And Other Sports Officials earn a median of $40,040 in Washington and $57,450 in Kentucky. That is a nominal gap of $17,410 (-30.3%), 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.

$40,040
Washington median
$37,416 after COL
$57,450
Kentucky median
$63,721 after COL
-30.3%
Nominal gap
Kentucky leads
-41.3%
Adjusted gap
Kentucky leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Kentucky pays $17,410 more per year than Washington for umpires, referees, and other sports officials, a gap of +30.3%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Kentucky still comes out ahead, with roughly $26,305 of extra purchasing power (+41.3% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for umpires, referees, and other sports officials in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Umpires, Referees, And Other Sports Officials

Washington

Median salary
$40,040
Mean salary
$43,090
Employment
430
Location quotient
1.23
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$37,416
Regional Price Parity
107.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Umpires, Referees, And Other Sports Officials page for Washington →

Umpires, Referees, And Other Sports Officials

Kentucky

Median salary
$57,450
Mean salary
$57,270
Employment
70
Location quotient
0.35
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$63,721
Regional Price Parity
90.2%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Umpires, Referees, And Other Sports Officials page for Kentucky →

Related pages

Keep digging into umpires, referees, and other sports officials 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.