Parts Salespersons in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,194
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,916
13.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,718
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
$36,110
Kept after tax
$31,194
Worth in national money
$33,718
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for parts salespersons is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $36,110. That is 43 of 50 states, and about 6.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Tennessee publishes, parts salespersons lands at 432. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $36,110 the take-home is $31,194; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $33,718 would nationally. The average comes to $40,540, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For parts salespersons, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $36,110, ranking 43 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 6.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Tennessee, this work ranks 432 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for parts salespersons in Tennessee, on $36,110, is $31,194 — equivalent to $33,718 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 $40,540 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Parts Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,060 |
| This salary | $36,110 |
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 | $31,194 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,194 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,617 |
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 | $36,110 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,956 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,110 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,320 and the ninetieth is $61,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $31,194 take-home in Tennessee comes from $36,110. 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 432 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,718 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 432.
- The Tennessee median of $36,110 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,320 to $61,060. 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 $31,194, from $36,110, 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 432 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,718, worked from $36,110, 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 432 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 $40,540 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $27,320 at the bottom tenth to $61,060 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $33,718 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $31,194 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $40,540. 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 ($27,320) and the ninetieth ($61,060) 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 $33,718 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 $31,194 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.