Painters, Construction and Maintenance in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,915
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,315
14.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,902
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
$43,230
Kept after tax
$36,915
Worth in national money
$39,902
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays painters, construction and maintenance a middle wage of $43,230, 48 of 51 states and about 12.49% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Painters, construction and maintenance ranks 363 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $43,230 you keep $36,915, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $39,902 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $44,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee's $43,230 median for painters, construction and maintenance places it 48 of 51 states, about 12.49% 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.
- Position 363 of 491 in Tennessee places painters, construction and maintenance 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 painters, construction and maintenance on $43,230 is $36,915. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $39,902 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 $44,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Painters, Construction and Maintenance
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,030 |
| This salary | $43,230 |
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 | $36,915 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,915 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,913 |
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 | $43,230 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,314 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,230 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,110 and the ninetieth is $61,030 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $36,915, from $43,230, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 363 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,902 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 363.
- The Tennessee median of $43,230 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,110 to $61,030. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,915 from $43,230. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 363 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,902, worked from $43,230, 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 363 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 $44,590 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,110 at the bottom tenth to $61,030 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $39,902 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $36,915 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.
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 $44,590. 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 ($35,110 to $61,030) 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 $39,902 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 $36,915 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.