Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,981
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,309
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,297
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
$48,290
Kept after tax
$40,981
Worth in national money
$44,297
State rank
13
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Tennessee's middle earner gets $48,290, putting the state 13 of 47 — about 2.01% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 296.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $48,290 you keep $40,981, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,297 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $63,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys, Tennessee sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $48,290, ranking 13 of 47 and running about 2.01% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys sits at 296 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys on $48,290 is $40,981. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,297 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $63,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,960 |
| This salary | $48,290 |
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 | $40,981 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,981 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,124 |
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 | $48,290 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,569 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,290 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,160 and the ninetieth is $103,960 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $40,981 take-home in Tennessee comes from $48,290. 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 296 of 491.
- Two cautions on $44,297, the adjusted value of that $48,290 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Tennessee. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 296 of 491 locally.
- The Tennessee median of $48,290 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,160 to $103,960. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $40,981, from $48,290, 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 296 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 47 for it.
- This $44,297 adjusted figure, worked from $48,290, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 296 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 296 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 $63,190, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $30,160 at the bottom tenth to $103,960 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $44,297 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $40,981 of this wage reaches your account, because Tennessee takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $63,190. 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 ($30,160) and the ninetieth ($103,960) 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 $44,297 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 $40,981 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.