Funeral Attendants in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,964
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$3,636
12.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,064
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
$29,600
Kept after tax
$25,964
Worth in national money
$28,064
State rank
47
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays funeral attendants a middle wage of $29,600, 47 of 48 states and about 17.04% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Tennessee this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, funeral attendants ranks 478. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $29,600 you keep $25,964, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $28,064 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $30,970, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee's $29,600 median for funeral attendants places it 47 of 48 states, about 17.04% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Tennessee reports, funeral attendants ranks 478 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for funeral attendants on $29,600 is $25,964. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $28,064 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $30,970 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Funeral Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,160 |
| This salary | $29,600 |
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 | $25,964 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,964 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,346 |
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 | $29,600 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,628 |
| 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 $29,600. The published range is $23,990 up to $38,160, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $25,964, from $29,600, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 478 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,064, the adjusted value of that $29,600 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 478 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for funeral attendants in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $23,990 to $38,160. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,964 from $29,600. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 478 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $28,064 — the adjusted value of that $29,600 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 478 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 $30,970 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $23,990 and the top tenth $38,160, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Tennessee is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $28,064 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $25,964 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. 48 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 $30,970. 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 ($23,990 to $38,160) 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 $28,064 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 $25,964 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.