Social Science Research Assistants in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,470
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,940
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,664
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
$46,410
Kept after tax
$39,470
Worth in national money
$42,664
State rank
41
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for social science research assistants is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $46,410. That is 41 of 45 states, and about 25.13% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 329.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,410 the take-home is $39,470; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,664 would nationally. The average comes to $47,860, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For social science research assistants, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $46,410, ranking 41 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 25.13%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, social science research assistants sits at 329 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for social science research assistants in Tennessee, on $46,410, is $39,470 — equivalent to $42,664 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 $47,860 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Social Science Research Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,500 |
| This salary | $46,410 |
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 | $39,470 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,470 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,046 |
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 | $46,410 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,474 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,410 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,120 and the ninetieth is $58,500 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $39,470, from $46,410, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 329 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $42,664, the adjusted value of that $46,410 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 329 of 491 locally.
- The Tennessee median of $46,410 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,120 to $58,500. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,470 from $46,410. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 329 of 491 locally.
- This $42,664 adjusted figure, worked from $46,410, 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 329 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 329 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 $47,860 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $33,120 at the bottom tenth to $58,500 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 $42,664 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $39,470 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 45 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 $47,860. 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 ($33,120 to $58,500) 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 $42,664 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 $39,470 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.