Retail Salespersons in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,852
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$4,098
12.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,105
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
$31,950
Kept after tax
$27,852
Worth in national money
$30,105
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for retail salespersons is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $31,950. That is 35 of 51 states, and about 9.77% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Tennessee publishes, retail salespersons lands at 463. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $31,950 you keep $27,852 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $30,105 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $35,010, since top earners drag the number up.
- For retail salespersons, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $31,950, ranking 35 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 9.77%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Tennessee, this work ranks 463 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $27,852 after the full tax stack, from $31,950. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,105 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $35,010 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Retail Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,720 |
| This salary | $31,950 |
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 | $27,852 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,852 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,444 |
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 | $31,950 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,746 |
| 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 retail salespersons in Tennessee earn under $31,950 and half over. The published range runs $23,720 at the tenth percentile to $47,720 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $27,852 take-home in Tennessee comes from $31,950. 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 463 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,105 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 463.
- Figures are distribution medians for retail salespersons in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $23,720 to $47,720; 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 $27,852, from $31,950, 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 463 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,105, worked from $31,950, 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 463 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 $35,010 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 $23,720 and the top tenth $47,720 — 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 $30,105 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $27,852 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $35,010. 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 ($23,720) and the ninetieth ($47,720) 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 $30,105 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 $27,852 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.