Human Resources Managers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$101,324
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$30,436
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$109,522
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
$131,760
Kept after tax
$101,324
Worth in national money
$109,522
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays human resources managers around $131,760 at the midpoint, 28 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 16 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $131,760 you keep $101,324 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $109,522 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $144,990, since top earners drag the number up.
- For human resources managers the Tennessee median is $131,760, ranking 28 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Tennessee, human resources managers ranks 16 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $101,324 after the full tax stack, from $131,760. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $109,522 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $144,990 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Human Resources Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $85,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $131,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $218,300 |
| This salary | $131,760 |
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 | $101,324 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $101,324 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,252 |
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 | $131,760 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,467 |
| 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 $131,760. The published range is $85,160 up to $218,300, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $101,324, from $131,760, 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 16 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 $109,522, the adjusted value of that $131,760 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 16 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for human resources managers in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $85,160 to $218,300. 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 $101,324 from $131,760. 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 16 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $109,522 — the adjusted value of that $131,760 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 16 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 $144,990, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $85,160, the highest tenth $218,300, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $109,522.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $101,324 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $144,990. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($85,160) and the ninetieth ($218,300) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $109,522 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 $101,324 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.