Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,049
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,391
13.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,399
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
$33,440
Kept after tax
$29,049
Worth in national money
$31,399
State rank
41
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 $33,440, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 9.23% 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: 457 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $33,440 you keep $29,049, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,399 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $34,650, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee ranks 41 of 51 for janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners, with a median of $33,440 — about 9.23% 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.
- Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners occupies position 457 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners on $33,440 is $29,049. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,399 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 $34,650 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,690 |
| This salary | $33,440 |
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 | $29,049 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,049 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,506 |
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 | $33,440 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,821 |
| 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 janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners in Tennessee earn under $33,440 and half over. The published range runs $26,720 at the tenth percentile to $45,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $29,049 take-home in Tennessee comes from $33,440. 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 457 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,399, the adjusted value of that $33,440 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 457 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $26,720 to $45,690; 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 $29,049, from $33,440, 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 457 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $31,399 — the adjusted value of that $33,440 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 457 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 $34,650 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $26,720 at the bottom tenth to $45,690 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,399.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $29,049 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.
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 $34,650. 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 ($26,720 to $45,690) 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 $31,399 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 $29,049 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.