Medical Assistants in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,974
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$5,596
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,723
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
$39,570
Kept after tax
$33,974
Worth in national money
$36,723
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays medical assistants a middle wage of $39,570, 41 of 51 states and about 13.39% 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, medical assistants ranks 397. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,570 you keep $33,974 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,723 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $41,480, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee's $39,570 median for medical assistants places it 41 of 51 states, about 13.39% 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, medical assistants ranks 397 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $33,974 after the full tax stack, from $39,570. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,723 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,480 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,540 |
| This salary | $39,570 |
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 | $33,974 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,974 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,761 |
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 | $39,570 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,130 |
| 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 medical assistants in Tennessee earn under $39,570 and half over. The published range runs $34,840 at the tenth percentile to $48,540 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $33,974 take-home in Tennessee comes from $39,570. 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 397 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,723, the adjusted value of that $39,570 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 397 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical assistants in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,840 to $48,540; 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 $33,974, from $39,570, 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 397 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $36,723 — the adjusted value of that $39,570 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 397 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 $41,480 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,840 and the top tenth $48,540, 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 $36,723 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $33,974 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 $41,480. 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 ($34,840 to $48,540) 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 $36,723 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 $33,974 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.