SalaryExplorer

SOC 21-1022 · May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Healthcare Social Workers — Elizabethtown

Elizabethtown, KY · 5 metro areas compared

$61,450 /year
$29.54per hour
30jobs in area
−9.5%vs US median

The median wage for Healthcare Social Workers in Elizabethtown, KY is $61,450 per year, 9.5% below the national median of $67,880.

Wage distribution · annual

Shaded band holds the middle 50% of earners

US MEDIAN $67,88010TH$43,43025TH$48,030MEDIAN$61,45090TH$77,930

How pay has moved

$64,620$45,600201920202022202320242025$61,450
$48,970 in 2019 to $61,450 in 2025, +25.5% before inflation. BLS states that OEWS estimates are not designed for comparison across years: the occupational classification, the sampling frame and the survey method have all changed inside this window. Read the direction, not the exact difference.

The next ten years

Projected to grow faster than average

Change in jobs, 2024 to 2034
+7.7%
Openings per year
18,400
Typical entry-level education
Master's degree
On-the-job training
Internship/residency

Includes jobs opened by workers leaving the occupation, not only new positions.

Projections are published nationally only. This is the outlook for the occupation across the United States, not a measurement for Elizabethtown, KY.

Projections are based on 2024 employment and run to 2034. The wages above are from the May 2025 survey, a separate BLS programme on a different release cycle, so the two are not two views of one dataset.

Salary overview

The median wage for Healthcare Social Workers in Elizabethtown, KY is $61,450 per year, 9.5% below the national median of $67,880. Pay ranges from under $43,430 at the tenth percentile to more than $77,930 at the ninetieth, with the interquartile range running from $48,030 to $75,060.

The area has 30 jobs in this occupation, which works out to 0.7 of every thousand jobs. Paducah leads the state's metro areas for this occupation, at $78,660. Set against every other occupation measured in the same area, it ranks 86th of 212 by median pay.

Percentile breakdown

Annual wages by percentile · Elizabethtown, KY · May 2025
PercentileAnnualvs US median
10th$43,430−36.0%
25th$48,030−29.2%
Median (50th)$61,450−9.5%
75th$75,060+10.6%
90th$77,930+14.8%
Mean$62,390−8.1%

Why the average earner is usually not a typical earner

Other metro areas in Kentucky

Median annual wage for Healthcare Social Workers, by metro area
#Metro areaMedianJobsRelative
1Paducah$78,66070
2Louisville/Jefferson County$68,970620
3Bowling Green$61,61060
4Lexington$59,340440
5Owensboro$56,56040

What the pay is worth locally

Prices in Elizabethtown run 9.4% below the national average, so the median of $61,450 goes as far as $67,826 would elsewhere in the country. Measured that way it compares to the national median at 0.1% below the national median in real terms.

Published median

$61,450as reported by BLS

Local price level

90.6US average = 100 · BEA 2024

Adjusted for local prices

$67,826US average = 100 · BEA 2024

Why the state that pays most is usually not where pay goes furthest

Key takeaways

  • Median pay is $61,450 a year, 9.5% below the national median.
  • Published pay spans $43,430 to $77,930 between the tenth and ninetieth percentiles.
  • The area has 30 jobs in this occupation.
  • The highest-paying metro area covered is Paducah, at $78,660.

Frequently asked questions

What is the median wage for Healthcare Social Workers in Elizabethtown, KY?

The median annual wage is $61,450, or $29.54 per hour, as of May 2025. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than that and half earn less.

Is that higher than the national average?

The national median for this occupation is $67,880, so pay in Elizabethtown, KY is 9.5% lower. These figures are medians, not averages: half of workers fall on each side.

What do the top earners make?

The top tenth of this occupation in Elizabethtown, KY earns more than $77,930 per year. The ninetieth percentile is the highest figure the survey publishes.

What is the starting range?

The tenth percentile wage is $43,430 per year. The survey measures wages actually paid rather than experience level, so this reflects the lowest-paid tenth rather than entry-level pay specifically.

Which area nearby pays the most?

The highest median for this occupation among the metro areas covered is in Paducah, at $78,660 per year.

How many jobs are there in this occupation here?

The survey estimates 30 jobs in this occupation in Elizabethtown, KY. Self-employed workers are not included.

Source and methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 Wages are for wage-and-salary workers; self-employed workers are not included. Salary Explorer is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or any government agency. Full methodology.