Physician Assistants in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$92,012
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$26,228
22.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$99,456
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
$118,240
Kept after tax
$92,012
Worth in national money
$99,456
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for physician assistants. The middle earner takes $118,240, ranking 48 of 51 states — about 12.98% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Tennessee reports, physician assistants comes in at 28 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $118,240 the take-home is $92,012; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $99,456 would nationally. The average lands at $117,300, below the middle of the range.
- Tennessee ranks 48 of 51 for physician assistants, with a median of $118,240 — about 12.98% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Physician assistants ranks 28 of 491 occupations by median in Tennessee, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for physician assistants in Tennessee, on $118,240, is $92,012 — equivalent to $99,456 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 $117,300 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physician Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $93,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $118,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $141,670 |
| This salary | $118,240 |
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 | $92,012 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $92,012 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,769 |
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 | $118,240 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,677 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $118,240. The published range is $93,380 up to $141,670, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $92,012, from $118,240, 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 28 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $99,456, the adjusted value of that $118,240 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 28 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for physician assistants in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $93,380 to $141,670. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $92,012 from $118,240. 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 28 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $99,456 — the adjusted value of that $118,240 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 28 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $93,380 at the tenth percentile, $141,670 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 $99,456 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $92,012 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($93,380 to $141,670) 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 $99,456 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 $92,012 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.