From preview to deliverable
This is a preview. The study makes it real.
See how the method behind these exhibits maps to all five objectives, and who does the work.
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A working preview of the study’s market analysis — the actual pay scale, a pay-range workbench, and the regional cost-of-labor question the RFI asks us to solve. This is the kind of evidence the final report is built on.
Eight tiers, from a district judge to the Chief Justice, phased from FY2025 to FY2026. These are the real numbers — the starting line for any market analysis.
Source: Kentucky Court of Justice, Judicial Salaries. FY2026 is the current-year rate; the FY25→FY26 step is about +3%.
The 120 elected circuit court clerks are paid on an eight-group schedule keyed to county population, $76,682 to $115,789. Source: Kentucky Court of Justice, Circuit Court Clerk Salary Information.
Kentucky’s general-jurisdiction judges rank 48th nationally, and judges earn roughly 20% below the national average — the pressure that produced HB 503. The analytical task is to quantify that gap precisely, and to separate the raw-dollar gap from the cost-of-living-adjusted one.
The study anchors this on the NCSC Survey of Judicial Salaries — the recognized national benchmark, cost-of-living-adjusted via the C2ER index — paired with public- and private-sector legal-market comparators and Kentucky’s neighboring states, so the recommendation holds up in front of the Appropriations & Revenue committee.
General-jurisdiction trial judge. KY FY2026 $161,262 vs. the NCSC national median of $183,006 (July 2024) — both real.
General-jurisdiction trial-judge pay against Kentucky’s seven surrounding and peer states and the national median. Kentucky sits second from the bottom — above only West Virginia, and 23% below its surrounding states.
Annual salary. Source: NCSC Survey of Judicial Salaries (July 1, 2024); Kentucky shown at its FY2025 rate for the same basis. National median $183,006.
Pick a position and a compensation philosophy. The tool builds a minimum–midpoint–maximum range around the market and shows where current pay sits — exactly the logic behind the study’s Objective 4 recommendations.
Judicial-tier current pay is real (Kentucky Court of Justice, FY2025); career-position markets and all midpoints/ranges shown here are illustrative of the method. Final ranges are produced from surveyed data under the study.
The RFI asks for cost-of-living adjustments across regions. A deputy clerk in the Cincinnati suburbs and one in eastern Kentucky face very different labor markets — the study prices that difference instead of pretending it away.
Composite cost-of-living index, U.S. = 100 (BestPlaces). The metros cluster near 90 while the statewide figure sits at 82.
See how the method behind these exhibits maps to all five objectives, and who does the work.