Radiation Therapists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,586
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$15,934
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,054
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
$83,520
Kept after tax
$67,586
Worth in national money
$73,054
State rank
43
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays radiation therapists a middle wage of $83,520, 43 of 46 states and about 20.69% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Tennessee. It ranks 84 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $83,520 you keep $67,586 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $73,054 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $88,630, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee's $83,520 median for radiation therapists places it 43 of 46 states, about 20.69% 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.
- Within Tennessee, radiation therapists ranks 84 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $67,586 after the full tax stack, from $83,520. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $73,054 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $88,630 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Radiation Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,340 |
| This salary | $83,520 |
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 | $67,586 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,586 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,503 |
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 | $83,520 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,839 |
| 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 radiation therapists in Tennessee earn under $83,520 and half over. The published range runs $77,730 at the tenth percentile to $101,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $67,586, from $83,520, 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 84 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 $73,054 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 84.
- Figures are distribution medians for radiation therapists in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $77,730 to $101,340; 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.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $67,586 from $83,520. 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 84 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $73,054, worked from $83,520, 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 84 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $88,630, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $77,730 at the tenth percentile, $101,340 at the ninetieth.
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 $73,054.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $67,586 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 46 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 $88,630. 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 ($77,730 to $101,340) 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 $73,054 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 $67,586 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.