Database administrators job market in Kentucky

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Kentucky industry employment tracked close to the U.S. benchmark

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Database administrators in Kentucky.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 100% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Database administrators earn in Kentucky

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$87,390Kentucky
Middle 50% of published wages
$62,220 – $117,390
U.S. median annual wage
$104,620
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Kentucky

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Database administrators, compared with the Kentucky median of $87,390.

Kentucky median$87,390
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN$102,360+17.1% vs. state
Middle 50%$74,500 – $130,920Published employment400
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN$96,850+10.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$66,880 – $129,170Published employment190
Lexington-Fayette, KY$88,490+1.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$66,940 – $109,500Published employment110
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH$57,680−34.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$46,230 – $98,430Published employment50

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Kentucky median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Kentucky’s weighted industry mix.

+0.3%Industry employmentKentucky industry employmentU.S. +0.2%vs. +0.2% U.S.
+1.3%Establishments in weighted industriesKentucky establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +2.9%vs. +2.9% U.S.
+3.4%Avg. weekly industry wageKentucky avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +4.0% · not occupation payvs. +4.0% U.S. · not occupation pay
+0.1 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 85,165 represented establishments, 83.2% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for database administrators in Kentucky

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.

This occupation is less concentrated in the state

Database administrators account for 0.72 times their national share of employment in Kentucky, according to OEWS May 2025. This is the published location quotient. The state estimate is 650 jobs, 0.9% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.32 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Concentration describes employment share, not current hiring or future growth.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

OEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.

Industry groups are pulling in opposite directions

The leading industry groups for this occupation show a split in Kentucky. In January to March 2026, Professional and business services employment changed +0.7% year over year, while Information changed -1.4%. Together, the groups examined cover 88.4% of the occupation's national industry mix. The overall industry measure combines these opposing movements.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Published median pay is below the U.S. median

Kentucky's published median annual wage for database administrators is 16.5% below the national median in OEWS May 2025. The state estimate is $87,390, compared with $104,620 across the U.S. These medians are not adjusted for living costs and do not describe every worker.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Kentucky · 2026 Q1+0.3%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.2%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Kentucky industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterKentuckyCoverage
2024 Q2+0.3%100%
2024 Q3-0.3%100%
2024 Q4-0.6%100%
2025 Q1-0.3%100%
2025 Q2+0.2%100%
2025 Q3+0.3%100%
2025 Q4+0.8%100%
2026 Q1+0.3%100%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Kentucky’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
+0.2%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Database administrators Work

The occupation mix determines which Kentucky industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Kentucky Database administrators context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Professional and business services35.5%+0.7%32,895$1,427
Private education and health services17.1%+1.1%27,969$1,259
Financial activities13.2%+0.8%14,767$2,042
State and local9.1%+1.1%5,095$1,110
Information7.9%-1.4%4,439$1,757
Other services5.7%-0.5%10,553$923

Which industries are growing?

4 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Kentucky employment change are listed.

  • Private education and health services+1.1%
  • State and local+1.1%
  • Financial activities+0.8%
  • Professional and business services+0.7%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Selected state comparison

Kentucky vs. other states

A selected set of other states with valid reports for this occupation, not every available state. Each state’s own published industry employment change for QCEW 2026 Q1, ordered with this report first and then alphabetically. This is not a ranking and there is no state-level score.

Open state comparison

How to read this

Same occupation, same release

Every state shown published its own verified QCEW 2026 Q1 figure for the industries weighted to Database administrators. Bars are proportional to each published change; left of centre is a decline.

Current Kentucky context

Current Kentucky Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Kentucky. They are not Database administrators demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Kentucky

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

102.8Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+2.8%Versus the February 2020 baseline
-0.1%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 2026100.82
Jul 31, 2026100.32
Aug 7, 202699.22
Aug 14, 202698.73
Aug 21, 202698.90
Aug 28, 202699.06
Sep 4, 202699.83
Sep 11, 2026101.12
Sep 18, 2026101.43
Sep 25, 2026102.87
Oct 2, 2026102.25
Oct 9, 2026102.87
Oct 16, 2026102.68
Oct 23, 2026102.78

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Oct 30, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Database administrators in Kentucky FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Database administrators in Kentucky?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Kentucky industries weighted to Database administrators changed +0.3% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.2% nationwide.

Are wages for Database administrators rising in Kentucky?

QCEW does not publish pay for Database administrators in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +3.4% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Kentucky industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Database administrators openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Database administrators
SOC code
15-1242
State
Kentucky
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
+0.3%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
+0.2%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
+0.1 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+1.3%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+3.4%State data coverage 100%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/database-administrators/kentucky#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Database administrators in other states