Sales and Related Workers, All Other in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,901
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,289
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,210
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
$48,190
Kept after tax
$40,901
Worth in national money
$44,210
State rank
20
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $48,190, ranking 20 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 299 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,190 you keep $40,901 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,210 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $55,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee occupies the middle band for sales and related workers, all other: a median of $48,190, ranking 20 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 299 of 491 in Tennessee places sales and related workers, all other 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $40,901 after the full tax stack, from $48,190. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,210 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $55,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sales and Related Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $20,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,730 |
| This salary | $48,190 |
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 | $40,901 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,901 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,120 |
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 | $48,190 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,564 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $48,190. The published range is $20,040 up to $100,730, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $40,901 take-home in Tennessee comes from $48,190. 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 299 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,210, the adjusted value of that $48,190 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 299 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for sales and related workers, all other in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $20,040 to $100,730. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $40,901, from $48,190, 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 299 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $44,210 — the adjusted value of that $48,190 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 299 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 $55,660, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $20,040 at the bottom tenth to $100,730 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $44,210 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $40,901 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $55,660. 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 ($20,040) and the ninetieth ($100,730) 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 $44,210 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 $40,901 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.