Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,465
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$13,775
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,519
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
$76,240
Kept after tax
$62,465
Worth in national money
$67,519
State rank
33
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays this job a middle wage of $76,240, 33 of 48 states and about 4.63% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Tennessee this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 121 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $76,240 the take-home is $62,465; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $67,519 would nationally. The average comes to $86,050, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee's $76,240 median for mathematical science teachers, postsecondary places it 33 of 48 states, about 4.63% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Tennessee publishes a median for, mathematical science teachers, postsecondary sits 121 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for mathematical science teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee, on $76,240, is $62,465 — equivalent to $67,519 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 $86,050 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,100 |
| This salary | $76,240 |
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 | $62,465 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,465 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,238 |
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 | $76,240 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,472 |
| 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 mathematical science teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee earn under $76,240 and half over. The published range runs $49,780 at the tenth percentile to $137,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $62,465 take-home in Tennessee comes from $76,240. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 121 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $67,519 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 121.
- Figures are distribution medians for mathematical science teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,780 to $137,100; 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.
- Retained pay of $62,465, from $76,240, assumes a single Tennessee filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 121 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $67,519, worked from $76,240, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Tennessee address, on work sitting at 121 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 $86,050 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $49,780 and the top tenth $137,100 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $67,519.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $62,465 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $86,050. 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 ($49,780) and the ninetieth ($137,100) 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 $67,519 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 $62,465 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.