Respiratory Therapists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,580
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$12,560
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,401
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
$72,140
Kept after tax
$59,580
Worth in national money
$64,401
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for respiratory therapists is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $72,140. That is 46 of 51 states, and about 12.32% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Respiratory therapists ranks 136 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $72,140 the take-home is $59,580; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $64,401 would nationally. The average comes to $72,300, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For respiratory therapists, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $72,140, ranking 46 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 12.32%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 136 of 491 in Tennessee places respiratory therapists 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.
- Post-tax income for respiratory therapists in Tennessee, on $72,140, is $59,580 — equivalent to $64,401 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $72,300 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Respiratory Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,060 |
| This salary | $72,140 |
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 | $59,580 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,580 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,088 |
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 | $72,140 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,266 |
| 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 respiratory therapists in Tennessee earn under $72,140 and half over. The published range runs $57,860 at the tenth percentile to $88,060 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $59,580 take-home in Tennessee comes from $72,140. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 136 of 491.
- Two cautions on $64,401, the adjusted value of that $72,140 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 136 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for respiratory therapists in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,860 to $88,060; 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.
- Retained pay of $59,580, from $72,140, assumes a single Tennessee filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 136 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- This $64,401 adjusted figure, worked from $72,140, 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 136 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 136 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $57,860 and the top tenth $88,060, 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 $64,401.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $59,580 of this wage reaches your account, because Tennessee takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($57,860 to $88,060) 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 $64,401 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 $59,580 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.