Construction and Building Inspectors in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,286
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$9,584
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,354
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
$59,870
Kept after tax
$50,286
Worth in national money
$54,354
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays construction and building inspectors a middle wage of $59,870, 47 of 51 states and about 19.84% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 206.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,870 the take-home is $50,286; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $54,354 would nationally. The average comes to $61,410, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee's $59,870 median for construction and building inspectors places it 47 of 51 states, about 19.84% 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.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, construction and building inspectors sits at 206 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for construction and building inspectors in Tennessee, on $59,870, is $50,286 — equivalent to $54,354 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 $61,410 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Construction and Building Inspectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,600 |
| This salary | $59,870 |
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 | $50,286 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,286 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,607 |
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 | $59,870 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,152 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,870 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,670 and the ninetieth is $84,600 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $50,286, worked from $59,870. 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 206 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,354, the adjusted value of that $59,870 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 206 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $59,870 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,670 to $84,600. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Tennessee take-home of $50,286, on $59,870 for work ranking 206 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 206 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $54,354 — the adjusted value of that $59,870 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 206 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,670 at the bottom tenth to $84,600 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $54,354.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $50,286 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,670) and the ninetieth ($84,600) 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 $54,354 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 $50,286 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.