Buyers and Purchasing Agents in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,753
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$10,677
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,183
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
$65,430
Kept after tax
$54,753
Worth in national money
$59,183
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays buyers and purchasing agents a middle wage of $65,430, 48 of 51 states and about 15.8% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 151.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $65,430 you keep $54,753 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $59,183 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $71,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee's $65,430 median for buyers and purchasing agents places it 48 of 51 states, about 15.8% 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.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, buyers and purchasing agents sits at 151 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $54,753 after the full tax stack, from $65,430. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $59,183 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $71,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Buyers and Purchasing Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,190 |
| This salary | $65,430 |
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 | $54,753 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,753 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,838 |
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 | $65,430 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,768 |
| 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 $65,430. The published range is $40,360 up to $106,190, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $54,753, from $65,430, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 151 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,183, the adjusted value of that $65,430 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 151 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for buyers and purchasing agents in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,360 to $106,190. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $54,753 from $65,430. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 151 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $59,183 — the adjusted value of that $65,430 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 151 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 $71,190, 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 $40,360 at the bottom tenth to $106,190 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $59,183.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $54,753 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?
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 $71,190. 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 ($40,360) and the ninetieth ($106,190) 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 $59,183 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 $54,753 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.