Bartenders in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,240
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$3,240
11.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,201
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$27,480
Kept after tax
$24,240
Worth in national money
$26,201
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for bartenders. The middle earner takes $27,480, ranking 37 of 51 states — about 19.98% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Tennessee, this one sits low: 489 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $27,480 you keep $24,240 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $26,201 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,180, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 37 of 51 for bartenders, with a median of $27,480 — about 19.98% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Bartenders occupies position 489 of 491 in Tennessee's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $24,240 after the full tax stack, from $27,480. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $26,201 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,180 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Bartenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $15,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,740 |
| This salary | $27,480 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Tennessee | $24,240 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,240 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,256 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $27,480 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,494 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of bartenders in Tennessee earn under $27,480 and half over. The published range runs $15,970 at the tenth percentile to $52,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $24,240 take-home in Tennessee comes from $27,480. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 489 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $26,201, the adjusted value of that $27,480 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 489 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for bartenders in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $15,970 to $52,740; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $24,240, from $27,480, assumes a single Tennessee filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 489 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $26,201 — the adjusted value of that $27,480 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 489 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $31,180, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $15,970 and the top tenth $52,740 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $26,201.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $24,240 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Tennessee is $31,180. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($15,970) and the ninetieth ($52,740) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Tennessee's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $26,201 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $24,240 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.