Producers and Directors in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,200
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$12,820
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,070
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
$73,020
Kept after tax
$60,200
Worth in national money
$65,070
State rank
19
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Tennessee is 19 of 50 states for producers and directors, with a middle wage of $73,020. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Producers and directors ranks 131 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $73,020 you keep $60,200 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $65,070 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $78,680, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 19 of 50 for producers and directors at $73,020. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 131 of 491 in Tennessee places producers and directors 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $60,200 after the full tax stack, from $73,020. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $65,070 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $78,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Producers and Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,610 |
| This salary | $73,020 |
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 | $60,200 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,200 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,120 |
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 | $73,020 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,310 |
| 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 $73,020. The published range is $36,120 up to $132,610, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $60,200, from $73,020, 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 131 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 $65,070 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 131.
- Reported values are medians; for producers and directors in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,120 to $132,610. 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 $60,200 from $73,020. 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 131 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $65,070, worked from $73,020, 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 131 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 $78,680 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $36,120 and the top tenth $132,610 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Tennessee sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $65,070 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $60,200 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 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $78,680. 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 ($36,120) and the ninetieth ($132,610) 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 $65,070 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 $60,200 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.