Library Technicians in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,427
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,973
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,970
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
$36,400
Kept after tax
$31,427
Worth in national money
$33,970
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays library technicians a middle wage of $36,400, 39 of 51 states and about 18.35% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Tennessee this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, library technicians ranks 428. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,400 you keep $31,427 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,970 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,100, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee's $36,400 median for library technicians places it 39 of 51 states, about 18.35% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Tennessee reports, library technicians ranks 428 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $31,427 after the full tax stack, from $36,400. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,970 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,100 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Library Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $20,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,120 |
| This salary | $36,400 |
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 | $31,427 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,427 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,629 |
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 | $36,400 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,970 |
| 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 library technicians in Tennessee earn under $36,400 and half over. The published range runs $20,980 at the tenth percentile to $51,120 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,427 take-home in Tennessee comes from $36,400. 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 428 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,970, the adjusted value of that $36,400 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 428 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for library technicians in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $20,980 to $51,120; 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 $31,427, from $36,400, 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 428 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $33,970 — the adjusted value of that $36,400 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 428 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $20,980 and the top tenth $51,120 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Tennessee is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $33,970 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $31,427 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($20,980) and the ninetieth ($51,120) 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 $33,970 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 $31,427 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.