Soil and Plant Scientists in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,957
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$9,993
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,160
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
$61,950
Kept after tax
$51,957
Worth in national money
$56,160
State rank
41
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for soil and plant scientists is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $61,950. That is 41 of 46 states, and about 21.43% 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 181.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,950 you keep $51,957 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $56,160 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $72,540, since top earners drag the number up.
- For soil and plant scientists, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $61,950, ranking 41 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 21.43%. 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, soil and plant scientists sits at 181 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.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $51,957 after the full tax stack, from $61,950. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $56,160 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $72,540 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Soil and Plant Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,620 |
| This salary | $61,950 |
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 | $51,957 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,957 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,693 |
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 | $61,950 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,257 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,950 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,510 and the ninetieth is $103,620 — 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 $51,957, worked from $61,950. 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 181 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,160 uses one figure for the whole of Tennessee. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 181.
- The Tennessee median of $61,950 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,510 to $103,620. 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 $51,957, on $61,950 for work ranking 181 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 181 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,160, worked from $61,950, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Tennessee address, on work sitting at 181 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 $72,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,510 at the bottom tenth to $103,620 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Tennessee is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $56,160 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $51,957 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.
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 $72,540. 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 ($45,510) and the ninetieth ($103,620) 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 $56,160 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 $51,957 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.