Chemists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,689
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$17,241
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,408
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
$87,930
Kept after tax
$70,689
Worth in national money
$76,408
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays chemists around $87,930 at the midpoint, 24 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 72 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $87,930 you keep $70,689 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $76,408 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $88,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- For chemists the Tennessee median is $87,930, ranking 24 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.
- Within Tennessee, chemists ranks 72 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $70,689 after the full tax stack, from $87,930. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $76,408 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $88,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $87,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,630 |
| This salary | $87,930 |
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 | $70,689 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,689 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,664 |
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 | $87,930 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,061 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $87,930 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,530 and the ninetieth is $132,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $70,689 take-home in Tennessee comes from $87,930. 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 72 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $76,408, the adjusted value of that $87,930 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 72 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $87,930 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,530 to $132,630. 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 $70,689, from $87,930, 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 72 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 24 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $76,408 — the adjusted value of that $87,930 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 72 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $48,530, the highest tenth $132,630, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $76,408 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $70,689 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?
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($48,530) and the ninetieth ($132,630) 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 $76,408 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 $70,689 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.