Food Batchmakers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,417
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,193
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,363
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
$42,610
Kept after tax
$36,417
Worth in national money
$39,363
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food batchmakers is strong here. Tennessee's middle earner gets $42,610, putting the state 14 of 50 — about 0.76% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Tennessee, this one sits low: 371 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $42,610 you keep $36,417 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $39,363 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $43,940, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food batchmakers, Tennessee sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $42,610, ranking 14 of 50 and running about 0.76% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Food batchmakers occupies position 371 of 491 in Tennessee's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $36,417 after the full tax stack, from $42,610. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $39,363 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,940 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Food Batchmakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,570 |
| This salary | $42,610 |
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 | $36,417 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,417 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,888 |
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 | $42,610 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,283 |
| 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 $42,610. The published range is $34,850 up to $56,570, 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 $36,417, worked from $42,610. 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 371 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,363, the adjusted value of that $42,610 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 371 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for food batchmakers in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,850 to $56,570. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Tennessee take-home of $36,417, on $42,610 for work ranking 371 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 371 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $39,363 — the adjusted value of that $42,610 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 371 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 $43,940, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,850 and the top tenth $56,570, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $39,363.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $36,417 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $43,940. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,850 to $56,570) 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 $39,363 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 $36,417 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.