Business Teachers, Postsecondary in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$69,296
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$16,654
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,902
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
$85,950
Kept after tax
$69,296
Worth in national money
$74,902
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays this job around $85,950 at the midpoint, 28 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, this job ranks 76 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $85,950 you keep $69,296, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $74,902 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $109,730, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For business teachers, postsecondary the Tennessee median is $85,950, ranking 28 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, business teachers, postsecondary sits 76 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 business teachers, postsecondary on $85,950 is $69,296. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $74,902 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 $109,730 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Business Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $53,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $169,710 |
| This salary | $85,950 |
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 | $69,296 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,296 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,592 |
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 | $85,950 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,962 |
| 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 business teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee earn under $85,950 and half over. The published range runs $53,780 at the tenth percentile to $169,710 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $69,296 take-home in Tennessee comes from $85,950. 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 76 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $74,902, the adjusted value of that $85,950 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 76 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for business teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $53,780 to $169,710; 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 $69,296, from $85,950, 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 76 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $74,902 — the adjusted value of that $85,950 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 76 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $109,730, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $53,780 and the top tenth $169,710 — 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 $74,902 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $69,296 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.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $109,730. 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 ($53,780) and the ninetieth ($169,710) 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 $74,902 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 $69,296 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.