Teachers and Instructors, All Other in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,355
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,645
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,782
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
$50,000
Kept after tax
$42,355
Worth in national money
$45,782
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays teachers and instructors, all other a middle wage of $50,000, 47 of 50 states and about 24.4% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Teachers and instructors, all other ranks 274 among 491 occupations Tennessee publishes pay for.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $50,000 the take-home is $42,355; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $45,782 would nationally. The average comes to $54,890, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee's $50,000 median for teachers and instructors, all other places it 47 of 50 states, about 24.4% 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.
- Position 274 of 491 in Tennessee places teachers and instructors, all other in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for teachers and instructors, all other in Tennessee, on $50,000, is $42,355 — equivalent to $45,782 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 $54,890 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Teachers and Instructors, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,570 |
| This salary | $50,000 |
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 | $42,355 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,355 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,195 |
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 | $50,000 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,655 |
| 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 teachers and instructors, all other in Tennessee earn under $50,000 and half over. The published range runs $21,070 at the tenth percentile to $99,570 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $42,355, worked from $50,000. 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 274 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,782, the adjusted value of that $50,000 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 274 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for teachers and instructors, all other in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $21,070 to $99,570; 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.
- The Tennessee take-home of $42,355, on $50,000 for work ranking 274 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 274 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $45,782 — the adjusted value of that $50,000 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 274 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 $54,890 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 $21,070 and the top tenth $99,570 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $45,782 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $42,355 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 50 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 $54,890. 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 ($21,070) and the ninetieth ($99,570) 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 $45,782 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 $42,355 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.