Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,780
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,260
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,079
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
$48,040
Kept after tax
$40,780
Worth in national money
$44,079
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Tennessee is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $48,040, ranking 50 of 51 states — about 10.62% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 301 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 $48,040 you keep $40,780, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,079 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $50,450, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee ranks 50 of 51 for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, with a median of $48,040 — about 10.62% 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.
- Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers ranks 301 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 welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers on $48,040 is $40,780. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,079 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 $50,450 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,200 |
| This salary | $48,040 |
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 | $40,780 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,780 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,114 |
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 | $48,040 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,556 |
| 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 welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in Tennessee earn under $48,040 and half over. The published range runs $37,840 at the tenth percentile to $64,200 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $40,780 take-home in Tennessee comes from $48,040. 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 301 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,079 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 301.
- Figures are distribution medians for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,840 to $64,200; 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 $40,780, from $48,040, 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 301 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 50 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,079, worked from $48,040, 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 301 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 $50,450 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,840 and the top tenth $64,200, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $44,079.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $40,780 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.
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 $50,450. 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 ($37,840 to $64,200) 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 $44,079 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 $40,780 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.