Budget Analysts in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$69,732
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$16,838
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,374
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
$86,570
Kept after tax
$69,732
Worth in national money
$75,374
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays budget analysts around $86,570 at the midpoint, 25 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Tennessee this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, budget analysts ranks 74 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $86,570 you keep $69,732, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $75,374 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $92,220, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For budget analysts the Tennessee median is $86,570, ranking 25 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Ranked against every occupation Tennessee publishes a median for, budget analysts sits 74 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for budget analysts on $86,570 is $69,732. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $75,374 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 $92,220 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Budget Analysts
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,280 |
| This salary | $86,570 |
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 | $69,732 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,732 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,615 |
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 | $86,570 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,993 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $86,570 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,920 and the ninetieth is $133,280 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $69,732 take-home in Tennessee comes from $86,570. 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 74 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $75,374, the adjusted value of that $86,570 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 74 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $86,570 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,920 to $133,280. 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 $69,732, from $86,570, 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 74 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $75,374 — the adjusted value of that $86,570 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 74 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 $92,220, 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 $63,920 and the top tenth $133,280 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Tennessee sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $75,374 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $69,732 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $92,220. 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 ($63,920) and the ninetieth ($133,280) 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 $75,374 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 $69,732 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.