Tax Preparers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,588
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$5,012
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,144
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
$36,600
Kept after tax
$31,588
Worth in national money
$34,144
State rank
44
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for tax preparers. The middle earner takes $36,600, ranking 44 of 48 states — about 33.36% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Tennessee, this one sits low: 425 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $36,600 the take-home is $31,588; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,144 would nationally. The average comes to $45,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee ranks 44 of 48 for tax preparers, with a median of $36,600 — about 33.36% 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.
- Tax preparers occupies position 425 of 491 in Tennessee's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Post-tax income for tax preparers in Tennessee, on $36,600, is $31,588 — equivalent to $34,144 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 $45,740 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,270 |
| This salary | $36,600 |
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 | $31,588 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,588 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,637 |
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 | $36,600 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,980 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of tax preparers in Tennessee earn under $36,600 and half over. The published range runs $27,770 at the tenth percentile to $77,270 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,588 take-home in Tennessee comes from $36,600. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 425 of 491.
- Two cautions on $34,144, the adjusted value of that $36,600 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 425 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for tax preparers in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,770 to $77,270; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $31,588, from $36,600, assumes a single Tennessee filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 425 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 48 for it.
- This $34,144 adjusted figure, worked from $36,600, 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 425 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 425 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 $45,740 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $27,770 and the top tenth $77,270 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $34,144 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $31,588 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 48 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 $45,740. 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 ($27,770) and the ninetieth ($77,270) 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 $34,144 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 $31,588 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.