Healthcare Social Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,386
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$9,854
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,544
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
$61,240
Kept after tax
$51,386
Worth in national money
$55,544
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for healthcare social workers is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $61,240. That is 42 of 51 states, and about 9.78% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 190.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,240 you keep $51,386, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,544 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $62,750, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For healthcare social workers, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $61,240, ranking 42 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 9.78%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, healthcare social workers sits at 190 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for healthcare social workers on $61,240 is $51,386. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,544 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 $62,750 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Healthcare Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,280 |
| This salary | $61,240 |
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 | $51,386 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,386 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,664 |
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 | $61,240 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,221 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,240 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,120 and the ninetieth is $83,280 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $51,386 take-home in Tennessee comes from $61,240. 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 190 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,544, the adjusted value of that $61,240 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 190 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $61,240 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,120 to $83,280. 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 $51,386, from $61,240, 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 190 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $55,544 — the adjusted value of that $61,240 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 190 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $41,120 at the tenth percentile, $83,280 at the ninetieth.
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 $55,544 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $51,386 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 ($41,120 to $83,280) 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 $55,544 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 $51,386 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.