News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,310
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$10,080
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,543
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
$62,390
Kept after tax
$52,310
Worth in national money
$56,543
State rank
8
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $62,390, which ranks 8 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 0.31% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 174 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,390 you keep $52,310, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $56,543 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $70,270, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee ranks 8 of 48 states publishing a median for news analysts, reporters, and journalists, at $62,390 — about 0.31% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 174 of 491 in Tennessee places news analysts, reporters, and journalists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for news analysts, reporters, and journalists on $62,390 is $52,310. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $56,543 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 $70,270 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,540 |
| This salary | $62,390 |
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 | $52,310 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,711 |
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 | $62,390 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,279 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,390 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,620 and the ninetieth is $130,540 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $52,310 take-home in Tennessee comes from $62,390. 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 174 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,543 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 174.
- The Tennessee median of $62,390 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,620 to $130,540. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $52,310, from $62,390, 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 174 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,543, worked from $62,390, 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 174 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 $70,270 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 $27,620 and the top tenth $130,540 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $56,543 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $52,310 of this wage reaches your account, because Tennessee takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 $70,270. 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 ($27,620) and the ninetieth ($130,540) 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 $56,543 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 $52,310 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.