Waiters and Waitresses
Owensboro, KY metropolitan area. Estimated employment 780.
Where you sit in the distribution
That is the median — half of waiters and waitresses in Owensboro earn more.
$29,790 in Owensboro buys what $33,600 buys across the country as a whole.
Owensboro's regional price parity is 88.6 — well below the national average — the nominal figure understates local buying power considerably. Adjusted figures for other metros are in the nearby-metros table below.
The same job, elsewhere in Kentucky
Adjusted figures apply each metro's regional price parity, so the columns are directly comparable.
| Metro area | Median | Adjusted | RPP | vs. Owensboro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lexington | $34,910 | $37,600 | 92.9 | +11.8% |
| Elizabethtown | $30,270 | $33,400 | 90.6 | −0.6% |
| Louisville | $30,180 | $32,400 | 93.1 | −3.5% |
| Owensboro This page | $29,790 | $33,600 | 88.6 | — |
| Paducah | $29,280 | $34,000 | 86.1 | +1.2% |
| Bowling Green | $28,810 | $31,900 | 90.2 | −5.0% |
Price parity and difference against Owensboro are in the full table on wider screens.
Nominal against real
The same median, once as published and once restated in 2025 dollars.
Published pay rose 64.6% over the five years to 2025. Adjusted for inflation it still rose 38.5% — pay has outrun prices since 2021. The two lines meet at the right edge by construction, since 2025 is the base year.
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Price parity
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Inflation
- Real figures deflate by CPI-U annual averages (BLS, all items, US city average).
- Employment
- 780 employed in this occupation in the metro (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
- Occupation
- SOC 35-3031, Waiters and Waitresses. Mapped to our taxonomy as waiters-and-waitresses.
Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.