Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,712
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,488
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,087
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
$49,200
Kept after tax
$41,712
Worth in national money
$45,087
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $49,200. That is 39 of 50 states, and about 17.03% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 288 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 $49,200 the take-home is $41,712; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $45,087 would nationally. The average comes to $56,150, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $49,200, ranking 39 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 17.03%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare ranks 288 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 education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare in Tennessee, on $49,200, is $41,712 — equivalent to $45,087 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 $56,150 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,290 |
| This salary | $49,200 |
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 | $41,712 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,712 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,162 |
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 | $49,200 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,615 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $49,200. The published range is $39,670 up to $79,290, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $41,712, from $49,200, 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 288 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 $45,087, the adjusted value of that $49,200 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 288 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,670 to $79,290. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $41,712 from $49,200. 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 288 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $45,087 — the adjusted value of that $49,200 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 288 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 $56,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $39,670, the highest tenth $79,290, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $45,087.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $41,712 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 $56,150. 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 ($39,670) and the ninetieth ($79,290) 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 $45,087 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 $41,712 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.