Dental Laboratory Technicians in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,455
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,425
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,809
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
$48,880
Kept after tax
$41,455
Worth in national money
$44,809
State rank
20
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $48,880, ranking 20 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 291.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,880 you keep $41,455 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,809 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $53,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee occupies the middle band for dental laboratory technicians: a median of $48,880, ranking 20 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, dental laboratory technicians sits at 291 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $41,455 after the full tax stack, from $48,880. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,809 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $53,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Dental Laboratory Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,020 |
| This salary | $48,880 |
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 | $41,455 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,455 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,149 |
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 | $48,880 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,599 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,880 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,520 and the ninetieth is $79,020 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,455 take-home in Tennessee comes from $48,880. 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 291 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,809 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 291.
- The Tennessee median of $48,880 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,520 to $79,020. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $41,455, from $48,880, 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 291 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,809, worked from $48,880, 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 291 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 $53,920, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $36,520 at the bottom tenth to $79,020 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Tennessee is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $44,809 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $41,455 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?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 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 $53,920. 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 ($36,520) and the ninetieth ($79,020) 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 $44,809 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 $41,455 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.