Dental Assistants in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,720
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,000
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,933
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
$46,720
Kept after tax
$39,720
Worth in national money
$42,933
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for dental assistants is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $46,720. That is 34 of 50 states, and about 2.81% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 323 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,720 the take-home is $39,720; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,933 would nationally. The average comes to $49,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For dental assistants, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $46,720, ranking 34 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 2.81%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Dental assistants ranks 323 of 491 occupations in Tennessee by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for dental assistants in Tennessee, on $46,720, is $39,720 — equivalent to $42,933 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 $49,670 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Dental Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,260 |
| This salary | $46,720 |
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 | $39,720 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,720 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,059 |
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 | $46,720 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,490 |
| 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 dental assistants in Tennessee earn under $46,720 and half over. The published range runs $37,810 at the tenth percentile to $61,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $39,720, worked from $46,720. 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 323 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,933 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 323.
- Figures are distribution medians for dental assistants in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,810 to $61,260; 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.
- The Tennessee take-home of $39,720, on $46,720 for work ranking 323 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 323 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,933, worked from $46,720, 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 323 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $49,670, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,810 at the tenth percentile, $61,260 at the ninetieth.
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 $42,933 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $39,720 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $49,670. 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 ($37,810 to $61,260) 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 $42,933 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 $39,720 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.