Paycheck Calculator Tennessee
Tennessee takes nothing. There is no state income tax on wages — and since the old Hall tax on investment income was repealed in 2021, there is no Tennessee income tax at all. On a $75,000 salary, a single filer takes home about $61,593 a year in 2026; only the feds and FICA touch the check. Enter your salary below and see the split.
Tennessee's 2026 tax structure: there isn't one
Tennessee is one of nine states with no broad income tax, and it got there by finishing the job. Wages were never taxed. The one exception — the Hall income tax on interest and dividends, dating to 1929 — was phased down under the 2017 IMPROVE Act and fully repealed on January 1, 2021. There is no Tennessee individual income tax return for wages, no state withholding, and nothing to file in April on the state side.
| Component | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| State tax on wages | $0 — no income tax |
| Hall tax on interest & dividends | Repealed January 1, 2021 |
| State withholding form | None — employers withhold federal only |
| The trade-off: state sales tax | 7% state; ~9.6% average combined — highest in the US |
Take-home pay at common Tennessee salaries
Single filer, no 401(k) or health premiums, 2026 figures. The state column is zero at every level:
| Salary | Federal tax | FICA | TN tax | Take-home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $3,820 | $3,825 | $0 | $42,355 |
| $75,000 | $7,670 | $5,738 | $0 | $61,593 |
| $100,000 | $13,170 | $7,650 | $0 | $79,180 |
| $150,000 | $24,734 | $11,475 | $0 | $113,791 |
What makes a Tennessee paycheck different
The cleanest pay stub in America. A Tennessee paycheck has exactly two tax layers — federal income tax and FICA — and your employer does not even register for state withholding. Compared with the same $100,000 salary in California, a Tennessean keeps $6,369 more a year; compared with neighboring Virginia, about $4,936 more. For remote workers choosing where to land in the Southeast, that difference is often the deciding line in the spreadsheet.
The state gets its revenue somewhere else: the checkout line. Tennessee's 7% state sales tax is the second-highest state rate in the country, and once local taxes stack on, the average combined rate is about 9.6% — the highest average in the US. Groceries get a reduced state rate, but most of what you buy is taxed hard. The honest way to read a Tennessee paycheck is "no income tax, expensive consumption" — whether you win depends on how much of your pay you spend versus save. High earners who save a large share win biggest; that is not an accident of the design.
Border life adds one more wrinkle. Tennessee touches eight states, and every single one of them taxes wages. Live in Memphis and work across the river in Arkansas, or live in Chattanooga and commute into Georgia, and the other state's tax follows the paycheck home — Tennessee gives you no state tax to claim a credit against, so the work state's tax is simply a cost of the commute. The reverse commute is simpler to price: live in Kentucky and work in Nashville, and Kentucky taxes the wages as your resident state while Tennessee takes its usual nothing.
Mistakes Tennessee workers make
- Assuming no state tax means no state filing — for everything. Wages, yes. But if you run a business, Tennessee's franchise and excise taxes are a separate system, and newcomers with side LLCs get caught assuming the "no tax" reputation covers them.
- Taking a border job without running its state's math. A $5,000 raise for a job across the line in Georgia or Arkansas can net out to nearly nothing once that state's income tax comes out of every check.
- Forgetting the sales-tax offset when relocating. The paycheck jumps, then the grocery and car bills jump too. Budget the first year on take-home minus Tennessee-priced spending, not on the stub alone.
An example you can check
Take a $75,000 salary, single filer, no 401(k). Federal tax comes to $7,670. Social Security takes $4,650 and Medicare $1,088. Tennessee tax is $0. Take-home: $61,593 a year, $2,368.94 every two weeks.
File jointly on a $95,000 household salary: federal tax $7,040, FICA $7,268, state tax still $0, take-home $80,693, or $3,103.56 per check. Now add a 6% 401(k) and $3,000 of health premiums to the single $75,000 case. Federal tax falls to $6,020 and you keep $55,972 while banking $4,500 for retirement — and note the 401(k) decision is purely federal here, because there is no state tax for it to reduce. Watch what barely moved: FICA. Your 401(k) dodges income tax, never payroll tax.
Frequently asked questions
Does Tennessee have a state income tax in 2026?
How much state tax does Tennessee take on $100,000?
What was the Hall tax?
I live in Tennessee but work in another state. Am I taxed?
If there's no income tax, why is Tennessee shopping so expensive?
More paycheck calculators
Or use the national paycheck calculator to switch between states, or browse all twenty states from the paycheck hub.
Sources & methodology
The 2026 federal figures in this calculator come from official tax sources, and Tennessee's zero-tax treatment follows the Tennessee Department of Revenue's own record of the Hall income tax repeal; both are documented on our methodology page. Since federal tax and FICA are the only layers here, how paycheck taxes work covers almost your whole stub.