Tennessee and Virginia at a glance
Tennessee and Virginia share a border, but a paycheck does not travel across it unchanged. A $60,000 salary leaves $29,389 a year after taxes and the four basics in Tennessee and $21,549 in Virginia.
Tennessee comes out ahead by $7,841 a year ($653 a month). The calculation starts from the same gross pay in both states, subtracts federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, then each state's own income tax, and then the population-weighted cost of a one-bedroom rental, groceries, home energy and gasoline across 7,066,383 people in 95 counties in Tennessee and 8,705,170 people in 133 counties in Virginia.
Taxes: what each paycheck loses
Federal income tax ($5,072) and FICA ($4,590) on $60,000 are the same on both sides of the border. Tennessee does not tax wages, while Virginia takes $2,650 of a $60,000 salary in state income tax, so take-home pay is $2,650 higher in Tennessee.
At $100,000
At $100,000 take-home pay is $78,901 in Tennessee and $73,951 in Virginia, a difference of $4,950. The gap widens with income because graduated state brackets take a growing share.
Living costs
One-bedroom rent averages $1,196 a month in Tennessee and $1,596 in Virginia, so Tennessee is $400 a month cheaper for housing. Food costs $3,436 a year in both, because the USDA Thrifty Food Plan is a national figure; home energy $1,733 and $2,119, and gasoline $1,426 and $1,429. Together the basics cost $20,949 a year in Tennessee and $26,140 in Virginia.
What the Census adds
Median household income is $69,595 in Tennessee and $93,170 in Virginia. Homeowners pay a median of $1,442 a year in property tax in Tennessee and $2,790 in Virginia. Commuters travel 25.7 minutes each way on average in Tennessee and 27.3 in Virginia.
Method
Taxes use the 2025 rules for a single filer with wage income only and the standard deduction. Housing and living costs are county figures from HUD (one-bedroom Fair Market Rent), the USDA Thrifty Food Plan and state energy prices from the Energy Information Administration, averaged across each state's counties and weighted by population, so large counties count more. Local income taxes are not included. Counties differ widely inside every state, so use the county pages for a specific place.