Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,414
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$3,746
12.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,551
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
$30,160
Kept after tax
$26,414
Worth in national money
$28,551
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks. The middle earner takes $30,160, ranking 38 of 51 states — about 14% 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: 476 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $30,160 you keep $26,414 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,551 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 38 of 51 for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, with a median of $30,160 — about 14% 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.
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks occupies position 476 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 $26,414 after the full tax stack, from $30,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,551 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,270 |
| This salary | $30,160 |
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 | $26,414 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,414 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,369 |
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 | $30,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,656 |
| 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 $30,160. The published range is $23,880 up to $37,270, 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 $26,414, worked from $30,160. 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 476 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,551, the adjusted value of that $30,160 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 476 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $23,880 to $37,270. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Tennessee take-home of $26,414, on $30,160 for work ranking 476 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 476 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $28,551 — the adjusted value of that $30,160 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 476 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 $31,640 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $23,880 at the tenth percentile, $37,270 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 $28,551 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $26,414 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $31,640. 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 ($23,880 to $37,270) 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 $28,551 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 $26,414 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.