Psychiatric Technicians in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,159
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$5,641
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,923
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
$39,800
Kept after tax
$34,159
Worth in national money
$36,923
State rank
39
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays psychiatric technicians a middle wage of $39,800, 39 of 49 states and about 11.81% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Tennessee this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, psychiatric technicians ranks 393. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $39,800 you keep $34,159, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,923 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee's $39,800 median for psychiatric technicians places it 39 of 49 states, about 11.81% 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.
- Against every occupation Tennessee reports, psychiatric technicians ranks 393 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for psychiatric technicians on $39,800 is $34,159. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,923 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 $42,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Psychiatric Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,940 |
| This salary | $39,800 |
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 | $34,159 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,159 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,771 |
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 | $39,800 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,141 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,800 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,370 and the ninetieth is $53,940 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $34,159, worked from $39,800. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 393 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,923, the adjusted value of that $39,800 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 393 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $39,800 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,370 to $53,940. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Tennessee take-home of $34,159, on $39,800 for work ranking 393 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 393 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $36,923 — the adjusted value of that $39,800 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 393 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $42,190, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,370 at the tenth percentile, $53,940 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,923 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $34,159 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $42,190. 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 ($31,370 to $53,940) 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 $36,923 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 $34,159 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.