Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,996
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,134
12.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,262
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
$32,130
Kept after tax
$27,996
Worth in national money
$30,262
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for home health and personal care aides. The middle earner takes $32,130, ranking 37 of 51 states — about 10.25% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Tennessee, this one sits low: 459 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $32,130 you keep $27,996 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $30,262 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $33,070, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 37 of 51 for home health and personal care aides, with a median of $32,130 — about 10.25% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Home health and personal care aides occupies position 459 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 $27,996 after the full tax stack, from $32,130. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,262 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $33,070 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,150 |
| This salary | $32,130 |
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 | $27,996 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,996 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,451 |
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 | $32,130 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,755 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of home health and personal care aides in Tennessee earn under $32,130 and half over. The published range runs $28,090 at the tenth percentile to $38,150 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $27,996 take-home in Tennessee comes from $32,130. 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 459 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,262 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 459.
- Figures are distribution medians for home health and personal care aides in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,090 to $38,150; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $27,996, from $32,130, 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 459 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,262, worked from $32,130, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Tennessee address, on work sitting at 459 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,090 and the top tenth $38,150, 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 $30,262.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $27,996 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 ($28,090 to $38,150) 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 $30,262 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 $27,996 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.