Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,553
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$15,077
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,857
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
$80,630
Kept after tax
$65,553
Worth in national money
$70,857
State rank
42
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for physics teachers, postsecondary is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $80,630. That is 42 of 47 states, and about 19.62% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 94 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $80,630 the take-home is $65,553; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $70,857 would nationally. The average comes to $97,590, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For physics teachers, postsecondary, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $80,630, ranking 42 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 19.62%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Tennessee, physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 94 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for physics teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee, on $80,630, is $65,553 — equivalent to $70,857 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 $97,590 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $157,710 |
| This salary | $80,630 |
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 | $65,553 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,553 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,398 |
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 | $80,630 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,694 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of physics teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee earn under $80,630 and half over. The published range runs $57,590 at the tenth percentile to $157,710 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $65,553, from $80,630, 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 94 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 $70,857 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 94.
- Figures are distribution medians for physics teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,590 to $157,710; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $65,553 from $80,630. 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 94 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $70,857, worked from $80,630, 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 94 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 $97,590 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $57,590, the highest tenth $157,710, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $70,857 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $65,553 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. 47 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 $97,590. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($57,590) and the ninetieth ($157,710) 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 $70,857 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 $65,553 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.