Clinical and Counseling Psychologists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,873
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$13,947
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,960
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
$76,820
Kept after tax
$62,873
Worth in national money
$67,960
State rank
43
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $76,820, ranking 43 of 48 states — about 23.62% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 114 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 $76,820 you keep $62,873 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,960 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $84,350, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 43 of 48 for clinical and counseling psychologists, with a median of $76,820 — about 23.62% 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.
- Within Tennessee, clinical and counseling psychologists ranks 114 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 $62,873 after the full tax stack, from $76,820. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,960 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $84,350 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,930 |
| This salary | $76,820 |
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 | $62,873 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,873 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,259 |
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 | $76,820 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,502 |
| 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 $76,820. The published range is $50,520 up to $126,930, 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 $62,873, worked from $76,820. 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 114 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $67,960 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 114.
- Reported values are medians; for clinical and counseling psychologists in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,520 to $126,930. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Tennessee take-home of $62,873, on $76,820 for work ranking 114 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 114 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $67,960, worked from $76,820, 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 114 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $84,350, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $50,520, the highest tenth $126,930, 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 $67,960 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $62,873 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.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $84,350. 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 ($50,520) and the ninetieth ($126,930) 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 $67,960 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 $62,873 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.