Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,425
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$8,885
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,262
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
$56,310
Kept after tax
$47,425
Worth in national money
$51,262
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $56,310, ranking 31 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 240 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $56,310 you keep $47,425 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,262 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,350, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee occupies the middle band for child, family, and school social workers: a median of $56,310, ranking 31 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Child, family, and school social workers ranks 240 of 491 occupations in Tennessee by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $47,425 after the full tax stack, from $56,310. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,262 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,350 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: Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,230 |
| This salary | $56,310 |
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 | $47,425 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,425 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,458 |
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 | $56,310 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,973 |
| 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 $56,310. The published range is $39,650 up to $77,230, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $47,425, worked from $56,310. 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 240 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $51,262 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 240.
- Reported values are medians; for child, family, and school social workers in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,650 to $77,230. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Tennessee take-home of $47,425, on $56,310 for work ranking 240 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 240 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,262, worked from $56,310, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Tennessee address, on work sitting at 240 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,650 at the tenth percentile, $77,230 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Tennessee is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $51,262 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $47,425 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($39,650 to $77,230) 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 $51,262 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 $47,425 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.