Tennessee · BLS May 2025

How much does a driver/sales worker make in Tennessee?

Also called delivery driver. SOC 53-3031.

A driver/sales worker in Tennessee earns a median of $42,220 a year ($20.30 an hour), about $3,009 a month after federal and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 9,620 of these jobs in Tennessee in May 2025.

Median pay · Tennessee

$42,220A year, or $20 an hour.
Take-home a month$3,009After federal and FICA tax at 14.5%
Worth at national prices$45,956Prices here sit at 91.9 against 100
Against the nation8.9% aboveNational median $38,770
What driver/sales workers earn in Tennessee, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$20,800$10
25th percentile$35,730$17
MedianHalf earn more, half less$42,220$20
75th percentile$45,090$22
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$51,610$25
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$39,810$19

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in TennesseeBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$42,220
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$20.30
  3. Take-home after federal and FICA tax$3,009 a month at an effective rate of 14.5%.$36,104 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Tennessee sit at 91.9 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$45,956
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $38,770.8.9% above
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.12 against the nation's 1.00.9,620
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $42,220 in Tennessee, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$42,220
$20,000$55,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$42,220
Net 86%
Fed 7%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$36,104After all taxes
Monthly deposit$3,009Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,389Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate14.5%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$2,886 / yr
Tennessee state income taxNo state wage tax$0
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$3,230 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $42,220 is worth in Tennessee

Prices in Tennessee sit at 91.9 against a national average of 100, so $42,220 earned here buys what $45,956 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 79.1 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Tennessee takes in $69,595, so this occupation's median is 0.61 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 12% more concentrated in Tennessee than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for driver/sales workers in Tennessee

Tennessee does not tax wages, so the take-home figure above loses only federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare.

Rents in Tennessee index at 79.1 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 91.9, a gap of -12.8 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

Prices in Tennessee index at 91.9 (U.S. = 100), so the $42,220 median buys roughly what $45,956 would at national prices, $3,736 more.

The top of the pay range is stretched out. Going from the 75th to the 90th percentile adds $6,520, against $2,870 from the median to the 75th. The best-paid 10% of driver/sales workers in Tennessee make $51,610 or more.

Common questions

Driver/sales Worker pay in Tennessee, answered

How much does a driver/sales worker make in Tennessee?

The median wage for driver/sales workers in Tennessee is $42,220 a year, or $20.30 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average driver/sales worker salary in Tennessee?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for driver/sales workers in Tennessee is $39,810 a year. The median is $42,220.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for a driver/sales worker in Tennessee?

The median hourly wage is $20.30. At a full-time year that lines up with about $42,220 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for a driver/sales worker in Tennessee?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Tennessee, the lowest-paid 10% of driver/sales workers earn under $20,800 a year and a quarter earn under $35,730 ($10.00 and $17.18 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for a driver/sales worker in Tennessee?

The overall salary range for driver/sales workers in Tennessee spans from $20,800 for the bottom 10% to $51,610 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $35,730 and $45,090 a year, with the overall median at $42,220.

What is the take-home pay for a driver/sales worker in Tennessee?

On the median wage of $42,220, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $36,104 a year, or roughly $3,009 a month.

That is after federal and FICA tax, an effective rate of 14.5%.

Tennessee levies no state income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld for it.

How much does a driver/sales worker make a month in Tennessee?

On the median annual salary of $42,220, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,009 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,389 net.

Do driver/sales workers earn more in Tennessee than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in Tennessee is 8.9% above the national median of $38,770.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Tennessee sit at 91.9 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $42,220 a good salary in Tennessee?

It is 0.61 times the median household income of $69,595. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Tennessee run at 91.9 against a national average of 100, with rents at 79.1, so $42,220 here buys about what $45,956 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid driver/sales workers earn in Tennessee?

The top tenth earn $51,610 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $20,800.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Tennessee someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many driver/sales workers are there in Tennessee?

The survey counted 9,620 of these jobs in Tennessee for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 12% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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