Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,364
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$14,576
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,572
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
$78,940
Kept after tax
$64,364
Worth in national money
$69,572
State rank
38
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays this job a middle wage of $78,940, 38 of 49 states and about 6.71% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 100 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $78,940 the take-home is $64,364; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $69,572 would nationally. The average comes to $94,800, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee's $78,940 median for biological science teachers, postsecondary places it 38 of 49 states, about 6.71% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within Tennessee, biological science teachers, postsecondary ranks 100 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for biological science teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee, on $78,940, is $64,364 — equivalent to $69,572 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $94,800 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $53,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $135,990 |
| This salary | $78,940 |
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 | $64,364 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,364 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,336 |
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 | $78,940 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,608 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $78,940. The published range is $53,170 up to $135,990, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $64,364 take-home in Tennessee comes from $78,940. 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 100 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $69,572 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 100.
- Reported values are medians; for biological science teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $53,170 to $135,990. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $64,364, from $78,940, 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 100 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $69,572, worked from $78,940, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Tennessee address, on work sitting at 100 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 $94,800, 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 $53,170 and the top tenth $135,990 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Tennessee is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $69,572 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $64,364 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $94,800. 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 ($53,170) and the ninetieth ($135,990) 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 $69,572 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 $64,364 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.