Labor Relations Specialists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,950
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$13,980
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,043
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
$76,930
Kept after tax
$62,950
Worth in national money
$68,043
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for labor relations specialists is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $76,930. That is 43 of 51 states, and about 19.38% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 110 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 $76,930 you keep $62,950 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,043 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $83,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- For labor relations specialists, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $76,930, ranking 43 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.38%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Tennessee, labor relations specialists ranks 110 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 $62,950 after the full tax stack, from $76,930. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,043 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $83,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Labor Relations Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $141,290 |
| This salary | $76,930 |
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 | $62,950 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,950 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,263 |
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 | $76,930 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,507 |
| 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 labor relations specialists in Tennessee earn under $76,930 and half over. The published range runs $29,570 at the tenth percentile to $141,290 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $62,950, worked from $76,930. 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 110 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,043 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 110.
- Figures are distribution medians for labor relations specialists in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,570 to $141,290; 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.
- The Tennessee take-home of $62,950, on $76,930 for work ranking 110 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 110 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,043, worked from $76,930, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Tennessee address, on work sitting at 110 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 $83,360, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $29,570, the highest tenth $141,290, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $68,043 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $62,950 of this wage reaches your account, because Tennessee takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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 $83,360. 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 ($29,570) and the ninetieth ($141,290) 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 $68,043 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 $62,950 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.