Recreation Workers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,162
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,418
13.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,521
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
$33,580
Kept after tax
$29,162
Worth in national money
$31,521
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Tennessee is 32 of 51 states for recreation workers, with a middle wage of $33,580. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Tennessee this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, recreation workers ranks 454. 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 $33,580 you keep $29,162, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,521 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $35,150, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee ranks 32 of 51 for recreation workers at $33,580. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Tennessee reports, recreation workers ranks 454 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 recreation workers on $33,580 is $29,162. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,521 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 $35,150 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,550 |
| This salary | $33,580 |
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 | $29,162 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,162 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,512 |
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 | $33,580 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,828 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,580 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,960 and the ninetieth is $46,550 — 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 $29,162, worked from $33,580. 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 454 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,521, the adjusted value of that $33,580 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 454 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $33,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,960 to $46,550. 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 $29,162, on $33,580 for work ranking 454 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 454 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $31,521 — the adjusted value of that $33,580 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 454 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 $35,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $23,960 at the bottom tenth to $46,550 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,521 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $29,162 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $35,150. 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 ($23,960 to $46,550) 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 $31,521 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 $29,162 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.