Home purchase in Tennessee
At $75,000 income
$1,101,182
Rank among states we cover
50 of 51
vs. national median
-10%
Tennessee sits at the cheap end of this comparison: 50 of 51 states where a home purchase can be computed with the same assumptions, at about $1,101,182 of gross income on a $75,000 salary. Being at the edge of the range is the point of this page — the states in the middle differ from each other by less than most people's rounding, but the ends differ from each other by real money. This purchase falls outside Tennessee's 9.61% sales tax, leaving income tax as the only state-level cost behind the figure above.
Then there is property tax, every year you own it. Tennessee charges 0.5% of what the home is worth — rank 43 in the country. On the same $440,600.00 home that is $2,216.22 a year. A typical home here is worth $286,700.00, and the typical bill is $1,442.00.
Effective property tax, Tennessee: about 0.5% of market value, ranking 43 nationally — $2,216 a year on the reference price above, recurring rather than due at closing. State medians behind the ratio: home value $286,700, annual tax $1,442. This is an effective rate — tax paid over market value — not a nominal millage against an assessed value, and being a statewide ratio of medians it describes no particular address.
Source: US Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates, tables B25103 (Median Real Estate Taxes Paid) and B25077 (Median Value, owner-occupied). ACS 5-year estimates covering 2020–2024, so the as-of date (2024-12-31) is the end of the estimation window rather than a measurement date.
Tennessee also charges a tax just for transferring the deed. On a $440,600.00 home — the national median — that comes to about $1,630.22. It is paid once, at closing, on top of everything above.
Real estate transfer tax, Tennessee, on a $440,600 home (NAR June 2026 national median): $1,630.22, due at closing and excluded from the gross-up figure above.
Source: Tenn. Code Ann. §67-4-409(a)(1) — 0.37% realty transfer tax, as of 2025-01-01.
Nevada costs about the same for a home purchase
Prices in Tennessee
Everyday prices in Tennessee run 7.48% below the national average. Rents, which housing costs follow, run 22.13% below average, lower than prices overall. That puts it at 32 on the price ladder, where first is the most expensive. A hundred dollars of average American shopping costs $93 $92.52 here.
The cost above uses one national price for a home purchase, so these local prices are not in it. See how prices break down in Tennessee.
BEA regional price parity, all items: about 7.48% below the national level, rank 32 by price level, most expensive first. Housing (rents) parity: about 22.13% below. A national-average basket costing one hundred dollars costs $93 here.
The category figures above apply a single national default price and are not adjusted for this price level. A parity measures what a basket costs, not what a salary is worth after tax. Full Tennessee price-level breakdown.
Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities by state (SARPP), 2023, as of 2023-12-31.
Try your own numbers
Adjust assumptions
to cover a home purchase
$692,123 invested upfront, assuming 7% a year. Includes your starting money and its growth. An illustration, not a forecast; investment growth is separate from the purchase cost above.
- Income tax (federal, FICA, state)37%$409,059
- Ownership costs22%$245,231
- Fees1%$6,291
- Home purchase40%$440,600
- Income tax (federal, FICA, state)
- Ownership costs
- Fees
- Home purchase
Data for nerds — sources, confidence and assumptions
Data for nerdssources, confidence, assumptions
Where each number comes from
| Component | Amount | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Item price | $440,600.00 | Your figureHigh confidence. You supplied this, so it is exact by definition. |
| Fees | $6,291.22 | Population averageLow confidence. A group statistic standing in for one person; your own costs may differ substantially. |
| Ownership costs | $245,231.48 | Population averageLow confidence. A group statistic standing in for one person; your own costs may differ substantially. |
| Income tax to earn it | $409,059.41 | StatutoryHigh confidence. This number is the law — federal, FICA and state tax rates are published rates, so the only real risk is staleness. |
Jurisdiction applied
- State:
TN - Local income tax: none selected
Assumptions
- Property tax uses the rate for the state you picked, not one national number. You can see the amount in the breakdown above, and it changes when you change state. Around the country the rate runs from about 0.27% to about 2.11%. It is a whole-state average, worked out from what a typical home is worth and what a typical owner pays, so your own county and your own house can be some way off it. We grow that cost with general inflation only, not with real reassessments.
- Insurance ($2,470.00 a year) and upkeep ($12,472.00 a year) are national averages for a typical home. We don't scale them to your purchase price.
- We only count mortgage interest for the 11 years you hold the home, not the full thirty-year loan. You'd still owe a large balance at that point — the same as in real life if you sell or refinance early.
- The about 3.5%-a-year rise in home value is our own estimate from a long-run price index, not an official published number like the mortgage rate is. Treat it as the shakiest figure here.
- The resale value we show is what the home is worth, not what you'd walk away with. We don't subtract the mortgage you'd still owe.
- We don't include PMI — the extra insurance lenders usually require when your down payment is under a fifth of the price. If yours is smaller than shown, your real monthly cost is higher.
- We show transfer tax for Texas (none) and California (county rate only, on the national median home price). Your own state may be very different, and city taxes on expensive homes aren't included.
- Property tax uses the selected state's own effective rate — the Census ACS five-year ratio of median real estate tax paid to median home value — rather than one national figure. The rate applied appears in the cost breakdown above and changes with the state you pick; across the country it runs from about 0.27% to about 2.11%. Because it is a statewide aggregate of medians, your county and your individual assessment can sit well away from it. Reassessment and rate changes over the holding period are modeled only as generic inflation, not as a real reassessment schedule.
- The $12,472/yr figure is total spending on the home, not unavoidable upkeep. Angi builds it from improvement projects as well as routine maintenance and emergency repairs, and improvement work is the largest of the three — so treat it as what a typical owner spends on the house rather than what the house obliges them to spend. A household that does no discretionary work would spend materially less. Homeowners insurance ($2,470/yr) is likewise a national average for a typical home, not scaled to your purchase price.
- Mortgage interest is calculated only through 11 years of ownership, not the full thirty-year loan term — a large remaining balance is still owed at that point, same as in reality if you sell or refinance before the mortgage matures.
- Home price appreciation (about 3.5% a year) is a derived long-run estimate from the S&P/Case-Shiller index's own trend, not an official published single statistic the way the mortgage rate or property tax rate are — treat it as the least certain figure in this model.
- Resale value shown is gross market value at the end of the holding period, not net proceeds after paying off the remaining mortgage balance — the same simplification used for vehicle resale value elsewhere on this site.
- PMI (private mortgage insurance, typically required when a down payment is under a fifth of the price) is not modeled — if your down payment is smaller than shown here, your real monthly cost is higher.
- Real estate transfer tax is shown for Texas (none) and California (county rate only, applied to the national median home price) — your state's transfer tax, if any, may differ substantially, and city-level surtaxes on high-value homes (like Los Angeles's Measure ULA) are not included.
Sources
- ATTOM Data Solutions — 2025 Property Tax Analysis (national average effective property tax rate) as of 2026-04-01
- Bankrate (Quadrant Information Services) — national average homeowners insurance premium as of 2025-07-01
- Angi 2025 State of Home Spending Report — improvements, maintenance and emergency repairs as of 2025-12-31
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey — 30-year fixed mortgage rate as of 2026-07-30
- LodeStar Software Solutions (via Bankrate) — national average closing costs as of 2025-01-01
- Texas Constitution, Article 8, Section 29 — real estate transfer taxes prohibited as of 2016-01-01
- California Revenue & Taxation Code §11911 — county documentary transfer tax as of 2026-01-01
- National Association of Realtors — Existing-Home Sales report (median price, median tenure) as of 2026-06-01
- S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index (via Macrotrends) — long-run appreciation trend as of 2026-01-01
The loan
$2,265/mo$352,480 borrowed at 6.66% over 30 years, after $88,120 down.
Early payments are mostly interest, so after 11 of 30 years you have paid 52% of the loan's total interest but retired only 17% of the principal. Only the interest actually paid within the holding period is counted in the cost above — assuming the loan runs its full term would overstate it.
Your position in the tax system
29.65% on the next dollarEvery extra dollar you earn is taxed at your marginal rate, not your average one — which is why a purchase costs more to fund than a paycheck stub suggests.
Marginal rates are read in gross-income terms: below the standard deduction an extra dollar of pay adds nothing to taxable income, so the true rate there is 0%, not the lowest bracket's. Excludes pre-tax deductions (401(k), HSA), which would lower all three.
Same purchase, different state
TN is #2 of 51The purchase inputs and income stay the same. Your row uses your calculator settings; other states use example counties and omit local income tax. Spread across all 51: $361,829, from Nevada to New Jersey.
- $1,098,012
- Tennesseeyou$1,101,182
- $1,459,841
Choose a state name to compare against somewhere else.
Where every dollar goes
37% never reaches youThe $1,101,182.11 you must earn, followed to where it lands. Select a band to isolate it.
- Federal income tax$377,517.63
- FICA (Social Security + Medicare)$31,541.78
- Home purchase$440,600.00
- Fees$6,291.22
- Ownership costs$245,231.48
Each tax layer is the extra tax this purchase causes — that layer's tax at your income subtracted from its tax at your income plus the gross-up — so bracket boundaries the purchase straddles are handled correctly rather than smoothed over with an average rate.
Is a raise actually a raise?
you keep 70%A raise arrives on top of everything you already earn, so it is taxed at your marginal rate — not the average rate on your whole salary.
Federal, FICA, state and any local income tax — no pre-tax deductions, benefit changes, or payroll withholding quirks, all of which move the real figure. Moving into a higher bracket never taxes the income below the threshold: only the dollars above it pay the higher rate.
The arithmetic, for Tennessee
Every figure below is computed, not illustrated — this is the actual chain the calculator walks for a single filer earning $75,000 in Tennessee, in the 2026 tax year. Follow it down and you can check our work.
| Gross salary | $75,000 | Where every calculation starts. |
|---|---|---|
| Less the federal standard deduction | −$16,100 | The 2026 figure for a single filer. |
| Federally taxable income | $58,900 | What the bracket table is applied to. |
| Federal income tax | −$7,670 | Top bracket reached: 22.00%. |
| FICA — Social Security and Medicare | −$5,738 | 7.65% up to the wage base, then 1.45% above it. |
| Tennessee taxable income | $75,000 | This state grants no deduction against this income. |
| Tennessee income tax | −$0 | Tennessee taxes no wage income, so nothing is owed on this line. |
| Take-home pay | $61,593 | $13,408 withheld — 17.88% of the salary never reaches you. |
The tag price and the true cost are never the same number: earning one dollar to spend takes roughly 1.22 of them here — that's the multiplier applied to every purchase on this page.
What's different about Tennessee
- There is no state income tax in Tennessee. The line is 0% — zero, not low. That one absence explains most of why this purchase needs less earned income here. It ranks 43 nationally, a place it shares with every other state charging nothing.
- For a home purchase, Tennessee is among the cheapest places in the country — rank 50, at $1,101,182 of gross income. New Jersey, at the other end, needs $1,459,841 for the same thing.
- The closest state to Tennessee on this purchase is Nevada, at $1,098,012 — $3,170 apart. Politically these two can feel nothing alike. Add up the whole stack and they still land a few dollars from each other.
- Tennessee collects at the register rather than the pay stub — sales tax, but no income tax. That trade matters. "No income tax" on its own is a poor guide to whether a state is cheap.
- No state individual income tax applies in Tennessee, which places it at 0% effective and rank 43 nationally — a rank shared with every other state levying nothing, since equal rates tie under standard competition ranking. The distinction from a low-rate state matters: the withholding line is absent from the stack entirely, which is why the earned-income requirement here diverges most sharply from states whose headline rates look modest.
- Tennessee ranks 50 for a home purchase, near the bottom of the national range, at $1,101,182 of required gross income. The high end of the distribution, New Jersey, requires $1,459,841 for an identical purchase.
- Nevada is the nearest state to Tennessee on this purchase at $1,098,012, a difference of $3,170. Full-stack totals routinely converge across states whose statutory structures and politics differ sharply, because the earn-side and spend-side layers offset one another.
- Tennessee collects on the spend side: a general sales tax with no individual income tax. The substitution is why headline "no income tax" comparisons mislead — the revenue is recovered at the point of sale, and the incidence simply falls on consumption instead of earnings.
What this page can't tell you
Worth being straight about, because a number without its limits is just a claim.
- These figures assume one filer with no dependants. They also assume nothing goes into a retirement account or an HSA before tax, and no itemized deductions. Any of those would cut the tax. That would cut the true cost too.
- Ownership costs fall back on national averages sometimes. That happens where a state figure does not exist, or could not be checked against a primary source. The data panel on the result says so outright when it does. We do not dress an estimate up as a measurement.
- Figures assume a single filer with no dependants, no pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, and the standard deduction rather than itemized deductions. Each of those would reduce taxable income and therefore the gross-up, so the figures here should be read as an upper bound on the earn-side requirement for this household shape.
- Ownership-layer inputs fall back to national averages where a state-level figure is unavailable or could not be verified against a primary source. Those fallbacks are disclosed per-figure in the provenance panel rather than being silently blended into the total, so an estimate is never presented with the same confidence as a measurement.
Questions people ask
Why is this cheaper in Tennessee?
The saving is in the earning, not the price tag. Tennessee leaves more of your pay intact, which is why this lands at $1,101,182, saving $122,478 against the median state.
Tennessee has no income tax, so why do I still need to earn this much?
Federal tax and Social Security do not care which state you live in. They take their share before your state gets a look, which is why the earning figure still exceeds the price here.
How much of this is sales tax?
State and local layers together come to about 9.61%. It is the visible tax on this purchase, and usually the smaller of the two you pay.
Where in the country is this cheapest?
Moving this purchase to Nevada, the lightest state, would spare you $3,170. Moving it to New Jersey, the heaviest, would add $358,659.
What does Tennessee's ranking on this actually mean?
50, counting down from the most expensive. Worth saying plainly: this ranks what the tax system does to the purchase, not what the purchase costs in a local shop.
What places Tennessee below the national median here?
The state sits below the national median on the combined wedge applied to this outlay — income tax, purchase tax, or both. Required gross income is $1,101,182, $122,478 under the median; the differential is a function of tax structure, not of local prices, which this model holds constant.
Why is required gross income above the outlay in a state with no income tax?
Federal income tax and FICA are levied irrespective of state of residence, so the gross-up factor has a floor set by the federal marginal rate plus the employee-side payroll tax. Removing the state layer reduces the wedge; it cannot eliminate it. Tennessee's requirement is $1,101,182.
What is the purchase-tax component in Tennessee?
The representative combined state-and-local rate is about 9.61%, applied to the taxable outlay. ⚠️ Local sourcing means the effective rate varies by point of sale within Tennessee; the figure here is representative, not jurisdiction-specific.
What is the national spread on this purchase?
Against Nevada at the light end, Tennessee carries $3,170 of additional gross requirement; against New Jersey at the heavy end it is $358,659 lighter. ⚠️ The model holds the pre-tax outlay constant across states, so the spread reflects tax structure alone and not regional price levels.
How is the state ranking on this purchase constructed?
States are ordered DESCENDING by required gross income at a constant pre-tax outlay — first place is the most expensive — and Tennessee occupies position 50. ⛔ The ranking is not a cost-of-living measure — regional price variation is deliberately excluded so the tax effect is isolable.
Keep going
What you must earn to buy it
A $75,000 salary
| Sticker price | $440,600 |
|---|---|
| Out of pocket | $440,600 |
| Income tax on earning it | $245,870 |
| Hours of work | 109.5 work months |
35.82% of that pay never reaches the purchase.
This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.
Show your work
A $75,000 salary
| PriceWhat you typed | $440,600 |
|---|---|
| Sales taxNo sales tax applied to this purchase | $0.00 |
| Out of pocketPrice plus sales tax | $440,600 |
| Federal, next dollarIRS brackets, 2026 | 22% |
| Social Security and MedicareFICA rates, 2026 | 7.65% |
| State, next dollarTN brackets, 2026 | 0% |
| Pay you must earnWalked up your own bracket boundaries | $686,470 |
| Tax on earning itPay needed, less out of pocket | $245,870 |
This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.
If the money stayed put
A $75,000 salary
| Spent today | $440,600 |
|---|---|
| Growth given up | $348,448 |
| Pay needed to buy it | $686,470 |
Assumes a 6% annual return that you can edit. This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.