Prepress Technicians and Workers in Tennessee

Machined metal parts and a CNC machine in a clean manufacturing workshop.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$40,579

after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax

Tax takes

$7,211

15.1% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$43,862

Tennessee costs less than average

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

$47,790

Kept after tax

$40,579

Worth in national money

$43,862

State rank

25

of 45 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays prepress technicians and workers around $47,790 at the midpoint, 25 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. Prepress technicians and workers ranks 309 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
  • Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $47,790 you keep $40,579, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,862 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $47,100, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
  • For prepress technicians and workers the Tennessee median is $47,790, ranking 25 of 45 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
  • Position 309 of 491 in Tennessee places prepress technicians and workers 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.
  • After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for prepress technicians and workers on $47,790 is $40,579. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,862 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $47,100 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.

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Pay band: Prepress Technicians and Workers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$33,790
Half earn under$47,790
Top tenth earn over$60,160
This salary$47,790

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

Compare with
$0take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Tennessee$40,579
Take-home in Texas$40,579
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,103

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

Moving to
$0$50,334
$50,334in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$47,790
Raise you would need+$2,544
Prices in Texas97 vs 93

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $47,790 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,790 and the ninetieth is $60,160 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In Tennessee the take-home figure of $40,579, from $47,790, 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 309 of 491 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $43,862, the adjusted value of that $47,790 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Tennessee. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 309 of 491 locally.
  • The Tennessee median of $47,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,790 to $60,160. 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 $40,579 from $47,790. 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 309 of 491 locally.
  • This $43,862 adjusted figure, worked from $47,790, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 309 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 309 of 491 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $33,790 and the top tenth $60,160, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.

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 $43,862.

Is most of this wage taxed away?

No. $40,579 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.

Why is this job missing from some states?

Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,790 to $60,160) 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 $43,862 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 $40,579 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.