Manicurists and Pedicurists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,150
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,660
13.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,589
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
$34,810
Kept after tax
$30,150
Worth in national money
$32,589
State rank
32
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Tennessee is 32 of 49 states for manicurists and pedicurists, with a middle wage of $34,810. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Tennessee this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, manicurists and pedicurists ranks 446. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $34,810 you keep $30,150, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $32,589 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $36,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee ranks 32 of 49 for manicurists and pedicurists at $34,810. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Tennessee reports, manicurists and pedicurists ranks 446 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for manicurists and pedicurists on $34,810 is $30,150. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $32,589 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 $36,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Manicurists and Pedicurists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $20,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,340 |
| This salary | $34,810 |
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 | $30,150 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,150 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,563 |
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 | $34,810 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,890 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $34,810 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $20,450 and the ninetieth is $57,340 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $30,150, from $34,810, 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 446 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $32,589, the adjusted value of that $34,810 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 446 of 491 locally.
- The Tennessee median of $34,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $20,450 to $57,340. 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 $30,150 from $34,810. 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 446 of 491 locally.
- This $32,589 adjusted figure, worked from $34,810, 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 446 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 446 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $36,820 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $20,450, the highest tenth $57,340, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $32,589.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $30,150 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 49 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 $36,820. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($20,450) and the ninetieth ($57,340) 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 $32,589 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 $30,150 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.