Tellers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,709
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$5,041
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,274
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
$36,750
Kept after tax
$31,709
Worth in national money
$34,274
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays tellers a middle wage of $36,750, 46 of 51 states and about 14.59% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Tennessee this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, tellers ranks 423. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,750 you keep $31,709 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,274 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,700, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee's $36,750 median for tellers places it 46 of 51 states, about 14.59% 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.
- Against every occupation Tennessee reports, tellers ranks 423 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $31,709 after the full tax stack, from $36,750. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,274 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,700 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Tellers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,150 |
| This salary | $36,750 |
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 | $31,709 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,709 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,644 |
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 | $36,750 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,988 |
| 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 tellers in Tennessee earn under $36,750 and half over. The published range runs $29,720 at the tenth percentile to $46,150 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,709 take-home in Tennessee comes from $36,750. 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 423 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,274 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 423.
- Figures are distribution medians for tellers in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,720 to $46,150; 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 $31,709, from $36,750, 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 423 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,274, worked from $36,750, 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 423 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,720 and the top tenth $46,150, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $34,274 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $31,709 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,720 to $46,150) 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 $34,274 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 $31,709 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.