What Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education earn in Dickson County, TN
According to the latest federal wage data for the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area, the median pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Dickson County, TN is $61,460 a year, or $29.55 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $51,512 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Dickson County, TN.
The mean wage is $64,250, which is 4.5% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,400 people working in this occupation across the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Dickson County, TN has roughly 55,983 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $48,220 a year ($23.18 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $79,920 or more ($38.42 an hour). That is a gap of $31,700 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $53,580 at the 25th percentile and $74,380 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $29.55 an hour or $61,460 a year at the median for Dickson County, TN. Before any deductions, that is $5,122 a month, $2,364 every two weeks and $1,182 each week. After taxes the same job pays $24.77 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education this way: "Teach academic and social skills to students at the elementary school level."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students"; "Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health"; "Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities"; "Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests".
Job outlook for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 1,419,300 jobs in 2025 to 1,413,400 in 2035, a change of -0.4%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 87,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 6.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $63,970 for this occupation; the Dickson County, TN median of $61,460 is 3.9% below it.
How pay in Dickson County, TN compares
Compared with the Tennessee average
A worker in this occupation in Dickson County, TN earns $1,497 more than the Tennessee average of $59,963, a premium of 2.5%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,497 before tax and roughly $1,254 after tax. Within Tennessee, Dickson County, TN already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education is $72,671 across the contiguous United States. At $61,460, Dickson County, TN pays $11,211 less, which is 15.4% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Dickson County, TN
Among the 532 occupations with published wages in Dickson County, TN, Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education ranks number 234 by median pay, ahead of about 56% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $119,990 a year, which is $58,530 more than the median for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education earning the Dickson County, TN median of $61,460, they add up to $9,948. The result is $51,512 of take-home pay a year ($4,293 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $45,710. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,247, an effective 8.5% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,811 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $891. FICA totals $4,702, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Tennessee
Tennessee does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Dickson County, TN is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $3,073 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $256 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Dickson County, TN
IRS Statistics of Income data for Dickson County, TN show an average adjusted gross income of $74,438 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.6% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.1%, compared with the 8.5% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Dickson County, TN
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Dickson County, TN: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $51,512 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Dickson County, TN, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,650 a month ($19,800 a year), and at $1,798 for two bedrooms. For Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education, a one-bedroom absorbs 38.4% of take-home pay and 32.2% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.6% of gross pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Dickson County, TN. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Tennessee residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,313 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $421, for $1,733 in total. Gasoline in Tennessee averages $3.08 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,426.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $26,395 a year in Dickson County, TN. Subtract that from $51,512 of take-home pay and $25,116 remains, which is $2,093 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 40.9% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Dickson County, TN
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Dickson County, TN: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Dickson County, TN, set beside the Tennessee and national medians.
Property taxes in Dickson County, TN
Homeowners in Dickson County, TN pay a median of $1,431 a year in real estate taxes, in line with the Tennessee median of $1,442 and 54% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $306,400, the median tax bill is 0.47% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education median of $61,460, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Dickson County, TN
Renters in Dickson County, TN pay a median gross rent of $1,015 a month in the Census survey, 15% below the Tennessee median of $1,189. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,650 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $306,400, 7% above the Tennessee median of $286,700. Median household income is $75,003, 8% above the Tennessee median of $69,595, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 26.4% of that income.
Commuting in Dickson County, TN
Workers in Dickson County, TN who travel to a workplace spend an average of 32.7 minutes each way, 27% above the Tennessee average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.5% of workers in Dickson County, TN work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education afford to live in Dickson County, TN?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $61,460 that ceiling is $1,537 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,650 is $114 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.73 an hour; the median for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education is $29.55, which is 7% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.77 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,798 a month means $899 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,012 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $34,128.
How fast you can save
At $2,093 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education pay in Dickson County, TN
How much do Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education make per hour in Dickson County, TN?
The median is $29.55 per hour, based on $61,460 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $23.18 at the 10th percentile to $38.42 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education take home after taxes in Dickson County, TN?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $61,460 becomes $51,512 a year. That is $4,293 a month, $1,981 every two weeks or $991 a week.
How much tax do Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education pay in Dickson County, TN?
Total taxes are $9,948 a year, an effective rate of 16.2%: $5,247 federal income tax, $4,702 FICA and no Tennessee income tax.
Do Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education earn more in Dickson County, TN than elsewhere in Tennessee?
Yes. The local median of $61,460 is +2.5% versus the Tennessee average of $59,963, a difference of $1,497 a year.
Can Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education afford a one-bedroom apartment in Dickson County, TN?
A one-bedroom costs $1,650 a month against take-home pay of $4,293, which is 38.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,537 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Dickson County, TN?
About $2,093 a month ($25,116 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,395 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Dickson County, TN at the 30% guideline?
$31.73 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,800 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education is $29.55.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Tennessee rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.