Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,877
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$18,163
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,773
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
$91,040
Kept after tax
$72,877
Worth in national money
$78,773
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 $91,040, ranking 32 of 46 states — about 12.71% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Tennessee reports, this job comes in at 66 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $91,040 you keep $72,877 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $78,773 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $92,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 32 of 46 for software quality assurance analysts and testers, with a median of $91,040 — about 12.71% 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.
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 66 of 491 occupations by median in Tennessee, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $72,877 after the full tax stack, from $91,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $78,773 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $92,170 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $91,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $125,760 |
| This salary | $91,040 |
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 | $72,877 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $72,877 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,778 |
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 | $91,040 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,218 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $91,040 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $61,580 and the ninetieth is $125,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $72,877, from $91,040, 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 66 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $78,773, the adjusted value of that $91,040 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 66 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $91,040 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $61,580 to $125,760. 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 $72,877 from $91,040. 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 66 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $78,773 — the adjusted value of that $91,040 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 66 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $61,580 at the tenth percentile, $125,760 at the ninetieth.
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 $78,773.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $72,877 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($61,580 to $125,760) 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 $78,773 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 $72,877 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.