Occupational Health and Safety Technicians in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,445
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$8,645
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,202
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
$55,090
Kept after tax
$46,445
Worth in national money
$50,202
State rank
45
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $55,090. That is 45 of 48 states, and about 10.51% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 244 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $55,090 you keep $46,445, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $50,202 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $58,560, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For occupational health and safety technicians, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $55,090, ranking 45 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 10.51%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Occupational health and safety technicians ranks 244 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for occupational health and safety technicians on $55,090 is $46,445. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $50,202 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 $58,560 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Occupational Health and Safety Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,360 |
| This salary | $55,090 |
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 | $46,445 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,445 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,407 |
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 | $55,090 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,912 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $55,090 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,030 and the ninetieth is $74,360 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $46,445 take-home in Tennessee comes from $55,090. 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 244 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,202 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 244.
- The Tennessee median of $55,090 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,030 to $74,360. 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 $46,445, from $55,090, 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 244 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,202, worked from $55,090, 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 244 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 $58,560 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $45,030 at the tenth percentile, $74,360 at the ninetieth.
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 $50,202 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $46,445 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 $58,560. 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 ($45,030 to $74,360) 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 $50,202 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 $46,445 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.