Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,948
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,812
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,099
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
$45,760
Kept after tax
$38,948
Worth in national money
$42,099
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $45,760, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 5.79% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 340.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $45,760 you keep $38,948 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $42,099 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $48,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 46 of 51 for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, with a median of $45,760 — about 5.79% 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.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers sits at 340 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $38,948 after the full tax stack, from $45,760. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $42,099 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $48,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,340 |
| This salary | $45,760 |
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 | $38,948 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,948 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,019 |
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 | $45,760 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,442 |
| 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 $45,760. The published range is $34,110 up to $66,340, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,948 take-home in Tennessee comes from $45,760. 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 340 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,099, the adjusted value of that $45,760 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 340 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,110 to $66,340. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,948, from $45,760, 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 340 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $42,099 — the adjusted value of that $45,760 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 340 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 $48,390 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 — $34,110 at the tenth percentile, $66,340 at the ninetieth.
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 $42,099.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $38,948 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 $48,390. 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 ($34,110 to $66,340) 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 $42,099 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 $38,948 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.