Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,489
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$8,901
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,332
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
$56,390
Kept after tax
$47,489
Worth in national money
$51,332
State rank
44
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 $56,390, 44 of 51 states and about 3.56% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 239.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $56,390 you keep $47,489 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,332 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $56,980, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee's $56,390 median for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators places it 44 of 51 states, about 3.56% 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.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators sits at 239 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $47,489 after the full tax stack, from $56,390. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,332 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $56,980 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,280 |
| This salary | $56,390 |
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 | $47,489 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,489 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,462 |
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 | $56,390 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,977 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,390 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,600 and the ninetieth is $75,280 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $47,489, from $56,390, 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 239 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 $51,332 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 239.
- The Tennessee median of $56,390 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,600 to $75,280. 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 $47,489 from $56,390. 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 239 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,332, worked from $56,390, 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 239 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $42,600 at the bottom tenth to $75,280 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $51,332 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $47,489 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($42,600 to $75,280) 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 $51,332 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 $47,489 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.