Miscellaneous Construction and Related Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,606
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$5,994
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,486
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
$41,600
Kept after tax
$35,606
Worth in national money
$38,486
State rank
43
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $41,600, ranking 43 of 45 states — about 16.65% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Tennessee, this one sits low: 380 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $41,600 you keep $35,606 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $38,486 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 43 of 45 for miscellaneous construction and related workers, with a median of $41,600 — about 16.65% 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.
- Miscellaneous construction and related workers occupies position 380 of 491 in Tennessee's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $35,606 after the full tax stack, from $41,600. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $38,486 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,170 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Miscellaneous Construction and Related Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,030 |
| This salary | $41,600 |
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 | $35,606 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,606 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,846 |
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 | $41,600 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,232 |
| 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 miscellaneous construction and related workers in Tennessee earn under $41,600 and half over. The published range runs $24,400 at the tenth percentile to $65,030 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $35,606, worked from $41,600. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 380 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,486, the adjusted value of that $41,600 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 380 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for miscellaneous construction and related workers in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $24,400 to $65,030; 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.
- The Tennessee take-home of $35,606, on $41,600 for work ranking 380 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 380 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $38,486 — the adjusted value of that $41,600 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 380 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $44,170, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $24,400 at the bottom tenth to $65,030 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $38,486.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $35,606 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $44,170. 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 ($24,400) and the ninetieth ($65,030) 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 $38,486 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 $35,606 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.