Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors in Kentucky

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220) in Kentucky reports 15,837 workers across 1,379 establishments, with $1.0B of aggregate annual payroll flowing through Census CBP 2023 filings. That represents 1.3% of national employment for this industry, a concentration ratio that tells you whether Kentucky is a primary labor market for this NAICS code or a smaller satellite. A share above 5% signals a meaningful regional cluster; below 1% usually means the state is not a structural fit for this industry at scale. Kentucky accounts for 1.2% of the national Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors establishment count (1,379 of 111,207), according to Census County Business Patterns.

Wage benchmarking is where state-level data earns its keep. The average annual compensation for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors employees in Kentucky is $64,364/yr, versus a national average of $73,693/yr. Kentucky pays below the national average for this industry, common in lower cost-of-living states or where the industry has a smaller, less specialized local workforce.

Profitability data is only available at the national level because the IRS Statistics of Income program does not publish state-level margin breakdowns. The national net profit margin for Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors is not reported, and while margins do vary by state, the direction of variance usually follows labor cost and establishment size, both shown above. For a complete picture, pair this state-industry view with the Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors national page (entity structure, SBA lending, sub-industries) and the Kentucky overview (top employers, payroll dispersion across industries).