Maintenance Workers, Machinery in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,239
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$10,551
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,627
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
$64,790
Kept after tax
$54,239
Worth in national money
$58,627
State rank
10
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for maintenance workers, machinery is strong here. Tennessee's middle earner gets $64,790, putting the state 10 of 46 — about 6.47% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 155 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $64,790 you keep $54,239, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $58,627 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $63,720, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For maintenance workers, machinery, Tennessee sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $64,790, ranking 10 of 46 and running about 6.47% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Maintenance workers, machinery ranks 155 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for maintenance workers, machinery on $64,790 is $54,239. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $58,627 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 $63,720 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Maintenance Workers, Machinery
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,480 |
| This salary | $64,790 |
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 | $54,239 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,239 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,811 |
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 | $64,790 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,640 |
| 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 maintenance workers, machinery in Tennessee earn under $64,790 and half over. The published range runs $43,510 at the tenth percentile to $83,480 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $54,239, from $64,790, 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 155 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $58,627, the adjusted value of that $64,790 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Tennessee. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 155 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for maintenance workers, machinery in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,510 to $83,480; 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 $54,239 from $64,790. 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 155 of 491 locally.
- This $58,627 adjusted figure, worked from $64,790, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 155 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 155 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $43,510 and the top tenth $83,480, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $58,627 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $54,239 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,510 to $83,480) 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 $58,627 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 $54,239 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.