Community Health Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,176
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,134
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,103
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
$42,310
Kept after tax
$36,176
Worth in national money
$39,103
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for community health workers is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $42,310. That is 49 of 51 states, and about 18.4% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Tennessee publishes, community health workers lands at 374. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $42,310 you keep $36,176 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $39,103 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $43,430, since top earners drag the number up.
- For community health workers, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $42,310, ranking 49 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 18.4%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Tennessee, this work ranks 374 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $36,176 after the full tax stack, from $42,310. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $39,103 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,430 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Community Health Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,960 |
| This salary | $42,310 |
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 | $36,176 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,176 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,875 |
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 | $42,310 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,268 |
| 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 $42,310. The published range is $34,180 up to $58,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $36,176, from $42,310, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 374 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,103 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 374.
- Reported values are medians; for community health workers in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,180 to $58,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,176 from $42,310. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 374 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,103, worked from $42,310, 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 374 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,180 at the bottom tenth to $58,960 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $39,103.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $36,176 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,180 to $58,960) 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 $39,103 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 $36,176 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.