Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,573
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$5,497
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,289
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
$39,070
Kept after tax
$33,573
Worth in national money
$36,289
State rank
32
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $39,070, ranking 32 of 46 states — about 8.65% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Tennessee, this one sits low: 401 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $39,070 you keep $33,573, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,289 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,480, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee ranks 32 of 46 for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood, with a median of $39,070 — about 8.65% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood occupies position 401 of 491 in Tennessee's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood on $39,070 is $33,573. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,289 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 $40,480 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,400 |
| This salary | $39,070 |
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 | $33,573 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,573 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,740 |
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 | $39,070 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,105 |
| 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 sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood in Tennessee earn under $39,070 and half over. The published range runs $30,680 at the tenth percentile to $49,400 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $33,573 take-home in Tennessee comes from $39,070. 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 401 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,289, the adjusted value of that $39,070 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 401 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,680 to $49,400; 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 $33,573, from $39,070, 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 401 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 32 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $36,289 — the adjusted value of that $39,070 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 401 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 $40,480, 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 — $30,680 at the tenth percentile, $49,400 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,289 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $33,573 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.
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 $40,480. 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 ($30,680 to $49,400) 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 $36,289 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 $33,573 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.