Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,872
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,348
13.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,208
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
$33,220
Kept after tax
$28,872
Worth in national money
$31,208
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays laundry and dry-cleaning workers around $33,220 at the midpoint, 32 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Tennessee publishes, laundry and dry-cleaning workers lands at 458. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $33,220 the take-home is $28,872; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $31,208 would nationally. The average lands at $32,660, below the middle of the range.
- For laundry and dry-cleaning workers the Tennessee median is $33,220, ranking 32 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, this work ranks 458 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Tennessee, on $33,220, is $28,872 — equivalent to $31,208 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $32,660 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,900 |
| This salary | $33,220 |
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 | $28,872 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,872 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,497 |
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 | $33,220 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,810 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,220 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,420 and the ninetieth is $36,900 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $28,872, worked from $33,220. 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 458 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,208 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 458.
- The Tennessee median of $33,220 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,420 to $36,900. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Tennessee take-home of $28,872, on $33,220 for work ranking 458 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 458 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,208, worked from $33,220, 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 458 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,420 at the bottom tenth to $36,900 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 $31,208.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $28,872 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($27,420 to $36,900) 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 $31,208 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 $28,872 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.