Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,260
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$14,110
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,378
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
$77,370
Kept after tax
$63,260
Worth in national money
$68,378
State rank
35
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 $77,370, ranking 35 of 46 states — about 8.21% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Tennessee this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 108 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $77,370 you keep $63,260 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,378 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $81,160, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 35 of 46 for sociology teachers, postsecondary, with a median of $77,370 — about 8.21% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Tennessee publishes a median for, sociology teachers, postsecondary sits 108 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $63,260 after the full tax stack, from $77,370. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,378 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $81,160 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $122,820 |
| This salary | $77,370 |
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 | $63,260 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,260 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,279 |
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 | $77,370 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,529 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,370 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,030 and the ninetieth is $122,820 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $63,260, worked from $77,370. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 108 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $68,378, the adjusted value of that $77,370 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 108 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $77,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,030 to $122,820. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Tennessee take-home of $63,260, on $77,370 for work ranking 108 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 108 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $68,378 — the adjusted value of that $77,370 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 108 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 $81,160, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $50,030 and the top tenth $122,820 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $68,378.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $63,260 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 $81,160. 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 ($50,030) and the ninetieth ($122,820) 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 $68,378 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 $63,260 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.