Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,944
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$9,746
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,066
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
$60,690
Kept after tax
$50,944
Worth in national money
$55,066
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $60,690, ranking 38 of 51 states — about 5.72% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 198 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $60,690 the take-home is $50,944; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $55,066 would nationally. The average comes to $61,030, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee ranks 38 of 51 for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education, with a median of $60,690 — about 5.72% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 198 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.
- Post-tax income for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Tennessee, on $60,690, is $50,944 — equivalent to $55,066 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 $61,030 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,830 |
| This salary | $60,690 |
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 | $50,944 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,944 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,641 |
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 | $60,690 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,194 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $60,690. The published range is $48,540 up to $76,830, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $50,944 take-home in Tennessee comes from $60,690. 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 198 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,066, the adjusted value of that $60,690 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 198 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,540 to $76,830. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $50,944, from $60,690, 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 198 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $55,066 — the adjusted value of that $60,690 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 198 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $48,540 at the tenth percentile, $76,830 at the ninetieth.
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 $55,066 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $50,944 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,540 to $76,830) 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 $55,066 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 $50,944 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.