Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,811
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$9,469
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,842
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
$59,280
Kept after tax
$49,811
Worth in national money
$53,842
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays this job a middle wage of $59,280, 43 of 51 states and about 22.21% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 212 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,280 the take-home is $49,811; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,842 would nationally. The average comes to $61,830, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee's $59,280 median for police and sheriff's patrol officers places it 43 of 51 states, about 22.21% 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 212 of 491 in Tennessee places police and sheriff's patrol officers 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.
- Post-tax income for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Tennessee, on $59,280, is $49,811 — equivalent to $53,842 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 $61,830 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,480 |
| This salary | $59,280 |
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 | $49,811 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,811 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,582 |
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 | $59,280 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,123 |
| 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 police and sheriff's patrol officers in Tennessee earn under $59,280 and half over. The published range runs $43,520 at the tenth percentile to $79,480 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $49,811 take-home in Tennessee comes from $59,280. 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 212 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,842, the adjusted value of that $59,280 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 212 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,520 to $79,480; 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.
- Retained pay of $49,811, from $59,280, 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 212 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $53,842 — the adjusted value of that $59,280 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 212 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 $61,830 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 $43,520 at the bottom tenth to $79,480 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $53,842.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $49,811 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $61,830. 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 ($43,520 to $79,480) 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 $53,842 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 $49,811 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.