Environmental Engineers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,203
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$19,987
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,449
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
$97,190
Kept after tax
$77,203
Worth in national money
$83,449
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for environmental engineers. The middle earner takes $97,190, ranking 34 of 50 states — about 9.26% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Tennessee this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, environmental engineers ranks 56 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $97,190 the take-home is $77,203; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $83,449 would nationally. The average comes to $101,260, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee ranks 34 of 50 for environmental engineers, with a median of $97,190 — about 9.26% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Ranked against every occupation Tennessee publishes a median for, environmental engineers sits 56 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 environmental engineers in Tennessee, on $97,190, is $77,203 — equivalent to $83,449 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 $101,260 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Environmental Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $142,660 |
| This salary | $97,190 |
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 | $77,203 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,203 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,002 |
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 | $97,190 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,528 |
| 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 $97,190. The published range is $62,630 up to $142,660, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $77,203, worked from $97,190. 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 56 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $83,449 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 56.
- Reported values are medians; for environmental engineers in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $62,630 to $142,660. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Tennessee take-home of $77,203, on $97,190 for work ranking 56 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 56 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $83,449, worked from $97,190, 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 56 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $101,260 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $62,630 and the top tenth $142,660 — 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 $83,449 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $77,203 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $101,260. 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 ($62,630) and the ninetieth ($142,660) 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 $83,449 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 $77,203 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.