Court, Municipal, and License Clerks in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,113
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,607
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,196
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
$44,720
Kept after tax
$38,113
Worth in national money
$41,196
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays court, municipal, and license clerks a middle wage of $44,720, 40 of 51 states and about 8.17% 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 351.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $44,720 you keep $38,113, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $41,196 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $47,100, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee's $44,720 median for court, municipal, and license clerks places it 40 of 51 states, about 8.17% 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, court, municipal, and license clerks sits at 351 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for court, municipal, and license clerks on $44,720 is $38,113. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $41,196 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $47,100 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,690 |
| This salary | $44,720 |
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 | $38,113 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,113 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,976 |
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 | $44,720 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,389 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of court, municipal, and license clerks in Tennessee earn under $44,720 and half over. The published range runs $32,880 at the tenth percentile to $60,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,113 take-home in Tennessee comes from $44,720. 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 351 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,196, the adjusted value of that $44,720 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 351 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for court, municipal, and license clerks in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,880 to $60,690; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $38,113, from $44,720, 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 351 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $41,196 — the adjusted value of that $44,720 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 351 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 $47,100, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,880 at the bottom tenth to $60,690 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 $41,196.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $38,113 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 $47,100. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,880 to $60,690) 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 $41,196 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 $38,113 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.