Kentucky Wind jobs: 298 employed (2024)
As of the 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report, Kentucky employs 298 people in the wind sector — about 0.2% of the U.S. total. That makes Kentucky the 47th-largest state for wind jobs nationwide.
Wind Jobs in Kentucky (2024)
National share: 0.22% of all U.S. wind jobs.
Typical Median Wage
1. Employment Landscape
Kentucky ranks 47th out of 51 U.S. states in wind employment. At 298 workers, the state sits below the 25th-ranked Arizona’s tally by 1,191 jobs, and trails the national leader Texas by 27,826 wind workers.
1.1 Kentucky’s position vs. the top 10 and median states
1.2 Share of U.S. total
The wind sector nationwide employs roughly 132,984 workers; Kentucky accounts for 298 of them.
1.3 Where Kentucky sits in its own mix
| Sector | Jobs (2024) | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Efficiency | 25,562 | #28 |
| Electric Vehicles | 2,954 | #11 |
| Solar | 2,268 | #31 |
| Storage & Grid | 822 | #31 |
| Wind | 298 | #47 |
| Hydropower | 154 | #37 |
| Clean Fuels | 142 | #34 |
| Nuclear | 122 | #33 |
1.4 Sub-sector breakdown in Kentucky
Every wind-related sub-category reported for Kentucky in the USEER workbook, ranked by employment.
2. Pay & Career Roles in Kentucky
Kentucky contributes 0.22% of the nation’s wind workforce. Within Kentucky’s own clean-energy economy, wind accounts for 0.9% of total clean-energy jobs (298 of 32,322 workers).
Cost-of-living in Kentucky is roughly 10.7% lower the U.S. average, so the state-adjusted median wage for wind roles in Kentucky is shown alongside the national BLS figure.
| Role | National median | Kentucky-adjusted | Job Zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind Energy Engineer | $100,940 | $90,139 | 4 |
| Wind Turbine Service Technician | $61,770 | $55,161 | 3 |
4. Hiring Difficulty & Industry Mix
Kentucky employers rate 20.9% of clean-energy hires as “very difficult” (plus 26.6% as “somewhat difficult”) — on par with the ~22% national baseline. Combined, 47.5% of Kentucky’s clean-energy roles see some level of hiring friction.
4.1 Employer hiring difficulty
4.2 Jobs by NAICS industry group
| Industry (NAICS group) | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 78,131 |
| Construction | 20,948 |
| Other Services | 13,174 |
| Trade | 11,333 |
| Professional Services | 9,708 |
| Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows | 8,485 |
| Utilities | 7,670 |
| Mining and Extraction | 6,045 |
| Agriculture and Forestry | 558 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Data source: U.S. Department of Energy — 2025 U.S. Energy & Employment Report (reflecting 2024 employment); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics; O*NET Occupation Database 29.1.
Last updated: April 2026.