Do linemen make more in Paducah or Cincinnati?

Cincinnati pays more: the median is $78,510 in Paducah and $93,150 in Cincinnati, a 16% difference.

Lineman salary in Paducah, KY-IL

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Linemen in the Paducah, KY-IL area earn a median of $78,510 a year, or $37.75 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $101,890. That's 2% more than the Kentucky median of $77,020.

Median yearly pay$78,510

Bottom 10% under$47,470Top 10% over$101,890

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $22.82/hr
Jobs in this area: 70
After cost of living: $91,200
Median hourly pay: $37.75/hr
vs U.S. median: −18%
vs Kentucky median: +2%
Mean (average) pay: $75,290 a year · $36.20 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 37140, Paducah, KY-IL). Excludes self-employed linemen. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What linemen in Paducah, KY-IL earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

Percentile	Hourly	Yearly
10th percentile	$22.82	$47,470
25th percentile	$28.64	$59,580
Median (50th)	$37.75	$78,510
75th percentile	$45.71	$95,070
90th percentile	$48.98	$101,890

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Paducah, KY-IL compares

Paducah ranks 4th of 7 Kentucky metro areas for lineman pay.
Linemen are more concentrated in the Paducah area than nationally: 1.4 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.6 times the U.S. share.

Other Kentucky metro areas

Other trades in Paducah, KY-IL

Electrician HVAC technician Welder Plumber Diesel mechanic Carpenter Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic

Questions

Do linemen make more in Paducah or Cincinnati?: Cincinnati pays more: the median is $78,510 in Paducah and $93,150 in Cincinnati, a 16% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 49-9051 (Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers), area code 37140 (Paducah, KY-IL). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed linemen and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (86.1, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures