Pest Control Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,071
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$5,619
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,827
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
$39,690
Kept after tax
$34,071
Worth in national money
$36,827
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for pest control workers is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $39,690. That is 39 of 50 states, and about 12.29% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Tennessee publishes, pest control workers lands at 396. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,690 you keep $34,071 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,827 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- For pest control workers, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $39,690, ranking 39 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 12.29%. 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 396 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $34,071 after the full tax stack, from $39,690. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,827 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Pest Control Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,270 |
| This salary | $39,690 |
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 | $34,071 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,071 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,766 |
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 | $39,690 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,136 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,690 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,570 and the ninetieth is $56,270 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $34,071, from $39,690, 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 396 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 $36,827 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 396.
- The Tennessee median of $39,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,570 to $56,270. 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 $34,071 from $39,690. 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 396 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,827, worked from $39,690, 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 396 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $42,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,570 at the tenth percentile, $56,270 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,827 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $34,071 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 50 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 $42,880. 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 ($30,570 to $56,270) 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 $36,827 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 $34,071 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.