Firefighters in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,793
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,507
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,174
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
$49,300
Kept after tax
$41,793
Worth in national money
$45,174
State rank
30
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee sits in the middle of the pack for firefighters. The median is $49,300, ranking 30 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 286.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $49,300 the take-home is $41,793; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $45,174 would nationally. The average comes to $51,590, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee occupies the middle band for firefighters: a median of $49,300, ranking 30 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, firefighters sits at 286 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for firefighters in Tennessee, on $49,300, is $41,793 — equivalent to $45,174 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 $51,590 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,460 |
| This salary | $49,300 |
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 | $41,793 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,793 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,166 |
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 | $49,300 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,620 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,300 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,910 and the ninetieth is $70,460 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,793 take-home in Tennessee comes from $49,300. 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 286 of 491.
- Two cautions on $45,174, the adjusted value of that $49,300 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 286 of 491 locally.
- The Tennessee median of $49,300 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,910 to $70,460. 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 $41,793, from $49,300, 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 286 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 50 for it.
- This $45,174 adjusted figure, worked from $49,300, 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 286 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 286 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 $51,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $33,910 at the bottom tenth to $70,460 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $45,174 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $41,793 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?
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 $51,590. 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 ($33,910) and the ninetieth ($70,460) 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 $45,174 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 $41,793 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.