Special Education Teachers, Secondary School in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,483
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$9,877
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,648
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
$61,360
Kept after tax
$51,483
Worth in national money
$55,648
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays this job a middle wage of $61,360, 36 of 51 states and about 17.37% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 189 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,360 you keep $51,483, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,648 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $61,990, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee's $61,360 median for special education teachers, secondary school places it 36 of 51 states, about 17.37% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Special education teachers, secondary school ranks 189 of 491 occupations in Tennessee by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for special education teachers, secondary school on $61,360 is $51,483. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,648 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 $61,990 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,640 |
| This salary | $61,360 |
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 | $51,483 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,483 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,669 |
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 | $61,360 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,227 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,360 as a midpoint for Tennessee, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,190 and the ninetieth is $77,640 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $51,483, from $61,360, 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 189 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 $55,648, the adjusted value of that $61,360 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 189 of 491 in the state.
- The Tennessee median of $61,360 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,190 to $77,640. 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 $51,483 from $61,360. 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 189 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $55,648 — the adjusted value of that $61,360 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 189 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $50,190 at the tenth percentile, $77,640 at the ninetieth.
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 $55,648 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $51,483 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.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($50,190 to $77,640) 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 $55,648 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 $51,483 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.