According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2020 Kentucky healthcare administrators made a median annual salary of $84,390. In the upper 90th percentile, experienced administrators brought in as much as $148,740 a year.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 12 percent of Kentucky’s workforce is employed in the healthcare industry, and that number continues to grow as the healthcare industry gets more attention from the state budget.
With more staff come more managerial duties, which will drive both employment and wages higher across the state for healthcare administrators. Between just 2019 and 2020 the average salary for healthcare management and administrators increased by over $4,000.
Factors Contributing to Rapid Job Growth in Healthcare Administration
Kentucky’s Center for Statistics estimates a 16.1 percent increase in the number of medical and health service managers between 2018 and 2028. Driven by both new job creation and turnover in existing roles, that will amount to some 540 openings for administrators annually during that period.
Much of that is down to the state’s decision to expand Medicaid coverage in January of 2014. According to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, healthcare jobs were in a decline across the state prior to that point; afterward, a steady upward trend has seen current healthcare employment numbers climb beyond 250,000, fueled in part by a more than $3 billion increase in spending post-expansion.
Healthcare Administrator Salaries in Kentucky Differ by Location
Although Lexington-Fayette is only the second largest urban center in the state for medical administrator employment, it offers lucrative salary levels for the role. The median of $97,310 is close the the national average and virtually tied with the Elizabethtown-Fort Knox area, while the top ten percent, consisting of the most experienced and responsible leaders in the role, earn at least $166,590.
Louisville/Jefferson County
- 25th percentile: $62,660
- Median: $80,930
- 90th percentile: $147,080
Lexington-Fayette
- 25th percentile: $76,850
- Median: $97,310
- 90th percentile: $166,590
Bowling Green
- 25th percentile: $72,850
- Median: $90,760
- 90th percentile: $178,290
Owensboro
- 25th percentile: $56,670
- Median: $78,530
- 90th percentile: $162,640
Most of the rural areas of the state offer considerably lower pay than the metropolitan areas, with the exception of the South Central nonmetropolitan area. At 85,650 the median wage there exceeds that of some of most of the top four urban areas in the state:
2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Medical and Health Services Managers.
Job growth projections sourced from the Kentucky Center for Statistics and published in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Long Term Occupational Projections (2018-2028) database – https://projectionscentral.com/Projections/LongTerm.
Salary figures and job market projections represent state data, not school-specific information.
Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed August 2021.