Data Scientists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,412
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$20,918
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,837
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
$100,330
Kept after tax
$79,412
Worth in national money
$85,837
State rank
31
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays data scientists around $100,330 at the midpoint, 31 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 45 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 $100,330 the take-home is $79,412; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $85,837 would nationally. The average comes to $105,200, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For data scientists the Tennessee median is $100,330, ranking 31 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Tennessee, data scientists ranks 45 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 data scientists in Tennessee, on $100,330, is $79,412 — equivalent to $85,837 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 $105,200 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Data Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $156,160 |
| This salary | $100,330 |
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 | $79,412 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,412 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,116 |
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 | $100,330 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,686 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,330 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,200 and the ninetieth is $156,160 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $79,412, from $100,330, 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 45 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $85,837, the adjusted value of that $100,330 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 45 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $100,330 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,200 to $156,160. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $79,412 from $100,330. 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 45 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $85,837 — the adjusted value of that $100,330 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 45 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 $105,200, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $60,200 and the top tenth $156,160 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Tennessee sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $85,837 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $79,412 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 49 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 $105,200. 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 ($60,200) and the ninetieth ($156,160) 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 $85,837 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 $79,412 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.