Family Medicine Physicians in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$167,971
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$58,859
25.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$181,561
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
$226,830
Kept after tax
$167,971
Worth in national money
$181,561
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for family medicine physicians is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $226,830. That is 41 of 51 states, and about 7.11% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within Tennessee this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, family medicine physicians ranks 2 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $226,830 you keep $167,971 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $181,561 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $284,650, since top earners drag the number up.
- For family medicine physicians, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $226,830, ranking 41 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 7.11%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation Tennessee publishes a median for, family medicine physicians sits 2 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $167,971 after the full tax stack, from $226,830. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $181,561 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $284,650 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Family Medicine Physicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $100,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $226,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $481,200 |
| This salary | $226,830 |
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 | $167,971 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $167,971 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$8,707 |
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 | $226,830 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$12,888 |
| 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 family medicine physicians in Tennessee earn under $226,830 and half over. The published range runs $100,290 at the tenth percentile to $481,200 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 $167,971, worked from $226,830. 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 2 of 491.
- Two cautions on $181,561, the adjusted value of that $226,830 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Tennessee. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 2 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for family medicine physicians in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $100,290 to $481,200; 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 $167,971, on $226,830 for work ranking 2 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 2 of 491 in the state.
- This $181,561 adjusted figure, worked from $226,830, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 2 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 2 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 $284,650 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 $100,290 and the top tenth $481,200 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $181,561.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $167,971 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 $284,650. 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 ($100,290) and the ninetieth ($481,200) 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 $181,561 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 $167,971 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.