Education Administrators, Postsecondary in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,778
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$21,072
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$86,232
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
$100,850
Kept after tax
$79,778
Worth in national money
$86,232
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays this job a middle wage of $100,850, 35 of 51 states and about 3.58% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Tennessee this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 42 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $100,850 the take-home is $79,778; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $86,232 would nationally. The average comes to $135,540, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee's $100,850 median for education administrators, postsecondary places it 35 of 51 states, about 3.58% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Tennessee publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 42 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for education administrators, postsecondary in Tennessee, on $100,850, is $79,778 — equivalent to $86,232 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 $135,540 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $224,710 |
| This salary | $100,850 |
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 | $79,778 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,778 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,135 |
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 | $100,850 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,712 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,850 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $65,000 and the ninetieth is $224,710 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $79,778 take-home in Tennessee comes from $100,850. 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 42 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $86,232 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 42.
- The Tennessee median of $100,850 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $65,000 to $224,710. 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 $79,778, from $100,850, 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 42 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $86,232, worked from $100,850, 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 42 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 $135,540, 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 $65,000 and the top tenth $224,710 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $86,232 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $79,778 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 $135,540. 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 ($65,000) and the ninetieth ($224,710) 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 $86,232 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 $79,778 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.