Fast Food and Counter Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,232
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$3,238
11.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,192
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
$27,470
Kept after tax
$24,232
Worth in national money
$26,192
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for fast food and counter workers is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $27,470. That is 43 of 51 states, and about 11.96% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Tennessee publishes, fast food and counter workers lands at 490. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $27,470 the take-home is $24,232; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $26,192 would nationally. The average comes to $27,870, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For fast food and counter workers, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $27,470, ranking 43 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 11.96%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Tennessee, this work ranks 490 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for fast food and counter workers in Tennessee, on $27,470, is $24,232 — equivalent to $26,192 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 $27,870 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $35,060 |
| This salary | $27,470 |
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 | $24,232 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,232 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,256 |
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 | $27,470 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,493 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $27,470 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $21,850 and the ninetieth is $35,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $24,232 take-home in Tennessee comes from $27,470. 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 490 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $26,192, the adjusted value of that $27,470 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 490 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $27,470 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $21,850 to $35,060. 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 $24,232, from $27,470, 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 490 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $26,192 — the adjusted value of that $27,470 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 490 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $21,850 at the bottom tenth to $35,060 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $26,192 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $24,232 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($21,850 to $35,060) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
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 $26,192 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 $24,232 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.