Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,037
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$10,013
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,247
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
$62,050
Kept after tax
$52,037
Worth in national money
$56,247
State rank
22
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays this job around $62,050 at the midpoint, 22 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 180 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,050 you keep $52,037, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $56,247 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $64,560, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For life, physical, and social science technicians, all other the Tennessee median is $62,050, ranking 22 of 50 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.
- Position 180 of 491 in Tennessee places life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other on $62,050 is $52,037. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $56,247 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 $64,560 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,050 |
| This salary | $62,050 |
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 | $52,037 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,037 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,697 |
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 | $62,050 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,262 |
| 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 life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Tennessee earn under $62,050 and half over. The published range runs $37,220 at the tenth percentile to $81,050 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $52,037, from $62,050, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 180 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $56,247, the adjusted value of that $62,050 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 180 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,220 to $81,050; 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.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $52,037 from $62,050. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 180 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $56,247 — the adjusted value of that $62,050 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 180 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $64,560, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,220 at the bottom tenth to $81,050 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $56,247 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $52,037 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $64,560. 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 ($37,220 to $81,050) 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 $56,247 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 $52,037 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.