Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,793
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,817
13.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,284
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
$35,610
Kept after tax
$30,793
Worth in national money
$33,284
State rank
46
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays this job a middle wage of $35,610, 46 of 50 states and about 9.34% 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, this job ranks 437. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,610 the take-home is $30,793; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $33,284 would nationally. The average lands at $35,590, below the middle of the range.
- Tennessee's $35,610 median for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service places it 46 of 50 states, about 9.34% 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, mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ranks 437 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.
- Post-tax income for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service in Tennessee, on $35,610, is $30,793 — equivalent to $33,284 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 $35,590 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $25,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,430 |
| This salary | $35,610 |
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 | $30,793 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,793 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,596 |
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 | $35,610 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,930 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,610 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $25,370 and the ninetieth is $45,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $30,793, from $35,610, 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 437 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 $33,284, the adjusted value of that $35,610 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 437 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $35,610 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $25,370 to $45,430. 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 $30,793 from $35,610. 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 437 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $33,284 — the adjusted value of that $35,610 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 437 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $25,370 and the top tenth $45,430, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $33,284 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $30,793 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($25,370 to $45,430) 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 $33,284 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 $30,793 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.