Machinists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,034
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,566
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,434
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
$49,600
Kept after tax
$42,034
Worth in national money
$45,434
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for machinists. The middle earner takes $49,600, ranking 50 of 51 states — about 15.57% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 281 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $49,600 the take-home is $42,034; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $45,434 would nationally. The average comes to $53,180, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee ranks 50 of 51 for machinists, with a median of $49,600 — about 15.57% 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.
- Machinists ranks 281 of 491 occupations in Tennessee by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for machinists in Tennessee, on $49,600, is $42,034 — equivalent to $45,434 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 $53,180 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Machinists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,430 |
| This salary | $49,600 |
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 | $42,034 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,034 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,179 |
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 | $49,600 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,635 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,600 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,560 and the ninetieth is $70,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $42,034, from $49,600, 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 281 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 $45,434, the adjusted value of that $49,600 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 281 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $49,600 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,560 to $70,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $42,034 from $49,600. 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 281 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $45,434 — the adjusted value of that $49,600 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 281 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 $53,180, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,560 at the bottom tenth to $70,430 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $45,434 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $42,034 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.
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 $53,180. 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 ($37,560 to $70,430) 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 $45,434 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 $42,034 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.