Chemical Technicians in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,244
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$8,596
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,985
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
$54,840
Kept after tax
$46,244
Worth in national money
$49,985
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for chemical technicians. The middle earner takes $54,840, ranking 40 of 51 states — about 9.19% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Chemical technicians ranks 245 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $54,840 you keep $46,244 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $49,985 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $58,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 40 of 51 for chemical technicians, with a median of $54,840 — about 9.19% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 245 of 491 in Tennessee places chemical technicians in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $46,244 after the full tax stack, from $54,840. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,985 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $58,170 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Chemical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,990 |
| This salary | $54,840 |
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 | $46,244 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,244 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,397 |
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 | $54,840 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,899 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $54,840 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,290 and the ninetieth is $77,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $46,244, worked from $54,840. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 245 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,985, the adjusted value of that $54,840 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 245 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $54,840 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,290 to $77,990. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Tennessee take-home of $46,244, on $54,840 for work ranking 245 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 245 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $49,985 — the adjusted value of that $54,840 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 245 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $58,170 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $41,290 at the tenth percentile, $77,990 at the ninetieth.
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 $49,985 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $46,244 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 $58,170. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($41,290 to $77,990) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
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 $49,985 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 $46,244 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.