Human Resources Specialists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$56,225
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$11,145
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,774
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
$67,370
Kept after tax
$56,225
Worth in national money
$60,774
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for human resources specialists is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $67,370. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 11.29% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Human resources specialists ranks 148 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $67,370 you keep $56,225, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $60,774 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $73,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For human resources specialists, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $67,370, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 11.29%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 148 of 491 in Tennessee places human resources specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for human resources specialists on $67,370 is $56,225. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $60,774 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 $73,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Human Resources Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,990 |
| This salary | $67,370 |
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 | $56,225 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,225 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,914 |
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 | $67,370 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,026 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $67,370 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,630 and the ninetieth is $109,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $56,225, from $67,370, 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 148 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $60,774, the adjusted value of that $67,370 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Tennessee. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 148 of 491 locally.
- The Tennessee median of $67,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,630 to $109,990. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $56,225 from $67,370. 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 148 of 491 locally.
- This $60,774 adjusted figure, worked from $67,370, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 148 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 148 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $73,590, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $45,630 and the top tenth $109,990 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $60,774.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $56,225 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 $73,590. 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 ($45,630) and the ninetieth ($109,990) 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 $60,774 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 $56,225 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.