Civil Engineers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,303
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$19,607
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$82,476
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
$95,910
Kept after tax
$76,303
Worth in national money
$82,476
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays civil engineers a middle wage of $95,910, 40 of 51 states and about 4.89% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 60 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $95,910 the take-home is $76,303; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $82,476 would nationally. The average comes to $103,340, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee's $95,910 median for civil engineers places it 40 of 51 states, about 4.89% 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.
- Within Tennessee, civil engineers ranks 60 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.
- Post-tax income for civil engineers in Tennessee, on $95,910, is $76,303 — equivalent to $82,476 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $103,340 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $95,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,100 |
| This salary | $95,910 |
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 | $76,303 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $76,303 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,955 |
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 | $95,910 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,463 |
| 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 $95,910. The published range is $65,090 up to $154,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $76,303 take-home in Tennessee comes from $95,910. 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 60 of 491.
- Two cautions on $82,476, the adjusted value of that $95,910 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Tennessee. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 60 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for civil engineers in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,090 to $154,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $76,303, from $95,910, 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 60 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- This $82,476 adjusted figure, worked from $95,910, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 60 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 60 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 $103,340 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $65,090, the highest tenth $154,100, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $82,476 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $76,303 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 $103,340. 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 ($65,090) and the ninetieth ($154,100) 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 $82,476 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 $76,303 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.