Tennessee · BLS May 2025

How much do geography teachers, postsecondary make in Tennessee?

Geography teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee earn a median of $81,220 a year, about $5,497 a month after federal and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 80 of these jobs in Tennessee in May 2025.

Median pay · Tennessee

$81,220A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.
Take-home a month$5,497After federal and FICA tax at 18.8%
Worth at national prices$88,408Prices here sit at 91.9 against 100
Against the nation16.8% belowNational median $97,590
What geography teachers, postsecondary earn in Tennessee, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$52,120Not published
25th percentile$60,090Not published
MedianHalf earn more, half less$81,220Not published
75th percentile$111,510Not published
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$118,760Not published
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$89,130Not published

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.$81,220
  2. Take-home after federal and FICA tax$5,497 a month at an effective rate of 18.8%.$65,968 a year
  3. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Tennessee sit at 91.9 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$88,408
  4. Against the national medianThe national median is $97,590.16.8% below
  5. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.13 against the nation's 1.00.80
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.
  • BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
  • 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 $81,220 in Tennessee, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$81,220
$50,000$120,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$81,220
Net 81%
Fed 11%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$65,968After all taxes
Monthly deposit$5,497Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$2,537Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate18.8%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$9,038 / yr
Tennessee state income taxNo state wage tax$0
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$6,213 / 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 $81,220 is worth in Tennessee

Prices in Tennessee sit at 91.9 against a national average of 100, so $81,220 earned here buys what $88,408 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 1.17 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 13% more concentrated in Tennessee than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for geography teachers, postsecondary 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 $81,220 median buys roughly what $88,408 would at national prices, $7,188 more.

Even the lowest-paid 10% of geography teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee make at least $52,120 a year.

Common questions

Geography Teachers, Postsecondary pay in Tennessee, answered

How much do geography teachers, postsecondary make in Tennessee?

The median wage for geography teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee is $81,220 a year.

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 Geography Teachers, Postsecondary salary in Tennessee?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for geography teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee is $89,130 a year. The median is $81,220.

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 starting salary for geography teachers, postsecondary 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 geography teachers, postsecondary earn under $52,120 a year and a quarter earn under $60,090.

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 geography teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee?

The overall salary range for geography teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee spans from $52,120 for the bottom 10% to $118,760 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $60,090 and $111,510 a year, with the overall median at $81,220.

What is the take-home pay for geography teachers, postsecondary in Tennessee?

On the median wage of $81,220, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $65,968 a year, or roughly $5,497 a month.

That is after federal and FICA tax, an effective rate of 18.8%.

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

How much does geography teachers, postsecondary make a month in Tennessee?

On the median annual salary of $81,220, estimated take-home pay is roughly $5,497 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 $2,537 net.

Do geography teachers, postsecondary earn more in Tennessee than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Tennessee is 16.8% below the national median of $97,590.

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 $81,220 a good salary in Tennessee?

It is 1.17 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 $81,220 here buys about what $88,408 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid geography teachers, postsecondary earn in Tennessee?

The top tenth earn $118,760 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $52,120.

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 geography teachers, postsecondary are there in Tennessee?

The survey counted 80 of these jobs in Tennessee for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 13% 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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