Urban and Regional Planners in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,385
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$14,585
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,595
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
$78,970
Kept after tax
$64,385
Worth in national money
$69,595
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Tennessee is 34 of 51 states for urban and regional planners, with a middle wage of $78,970. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Tennessee reports, urban and regional planners comes in at 99 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $78,970 you keep $64,385 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $69,595 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $81,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- Tennessee ranks 34 of 51 for urban and regional planners at $78,970. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Urban and regional planners ranks 99 of 491 occupations by median in Tennessee, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Tennessee is $64,385 after the full tax stack, from $78,970. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $69,595 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $81,750 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $105,700 |
| This salary | $78,970 |
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 | $64,385 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,385 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,337 |
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 | $78,970 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,610 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $78,970. The published range is $59,990 up to $105,700, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $64,385 take-home in Tennessee comes from $78,970. 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 99 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $69,595 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 99.
- Reported values are medians; for urban and regional planners in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $59,990 to $105,700. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $64,385, from $78,970, 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 99 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $69,595, worked from $78,970, 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 99 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $81,750, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $59,990 at the tenth percentile, $105,700 at the ninetieth.
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 $69,595 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $64,385 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $81,750. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($59,990 to $105,700) 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 $69,595 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 $64,385 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.