What Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn in Union County, TN
According to the latest federal wage data for the Knoxville, TN metropolitan area, the median pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Union County, TN is $37,400 a year, or $17.98 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $32,179 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Union County, TN.
The mean wage is $39,500, which is 5.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 10,120 people working in this occupation across the Knoxville, TN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Union County, TN has roughly 20,431 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in the Knoxville, TN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $29,580 a year ($14.22 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $48,550 or more ($23.34 an hour). That is a gap of $18,970 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $34,880 at the 25th percentile and $45,150 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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: $17.98 an hour or $37,400 a year at the median for Union County, TN. Before any deductions, that is $3,117 a month, $1,438 every two weeks and $719 each week. After taxes the same job pays $15.47 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand this way: "Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs"; "Move freight, stock, or other materials to and from storage or production areas, loading docks, delivery vehicles, ships, or containers, by hand or using trucks, tractors, or other equipment"; "Maintain equipment storage areas to ensure that inventory is protected".
Job outlook for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,940,300 jobs in 2025 to 2,991,900 in 2035, a change of +1.8%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 340,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 11.6% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $40,240 for this occupation; the Union County, TN median of $37,400 is 7.1% below it.
How pay in Union County, TN compares
Compared with the Tennessee average
Pay in Union County, TN runs $1,257 below the Tennessee average of $38,657, a gap of 3.3%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Tennessee would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Tennessee, the highest median we track for this job is $39,790 in Davidson County, TN.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $41,056 across the contiguous United States. At $37,400, Union County, TN pays $3,656 less, which is 8.9% 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 Union County, TN
Among the 471 occupations with published wages in Union County, TN, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand ranks number 394 by median pay, ahead of about 16% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $104,590 a year, which is $67,190 more than the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand.
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 Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earning the Union County, TN median of $37,400, they add up to $5,221. The result is $32,179 of take-home pay a year ($2,682 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $14 goes to taxes and $86 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $21,650. 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 $2,360, an effective 6.3% 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 $2,319 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $542. FICA totals $2,861, 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 Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Union 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 $1,870 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $156 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Union County, TN
IRS Statistics of Income data for Union County, TN show an average adjusted gross income of $62,824 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 9.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.7%, compared with the 6.3% 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 Union County, TN
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Union County, TN: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $32,179 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Union County, TN, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,178 a month ($14,136 a year), and at $1,475 for two bedrooms. For Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, a one-bedroom absorbs 43.9% of take-home pay and 37.8% 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 9.2% of gross pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Union 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 $20,731 a year in Union County, TN. Subtract that from $32,179 of take-home pay and $11,448 remains, which is $954 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 30.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Union County, TN
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Union 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 Union County, TN, set beside the Tennessee and national medians.
Property taxes in Union County, TN
Homeowners in Union County, TN pay a median of $752 a year in real estate taxes, 48% below the Tennessee median of $1,442 and 76% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $204,000, the median tax bill is 0.37% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand median of $37,400, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Union County, TN
Renters in Union County, TN pay a median gross rent of $847 a month in the Census survey, 29% 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 $1,178 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 $204,000, 29% below the Tennessee median of $286,700. Median household income is $62,727, 10% below the Tennessee median of $69,595, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.5% of that income.
Commuting in Union County, TN
Workers in Union County, TN who travel to a workplace spend an average of 34.6 minutes each way, 35% above the Tennessee average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.5% of workers in Union County, TN work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford to live in Union 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 $37,400 that ceiling is $935 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,178 is $243 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.65 an hour; the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $17.98, which is 21% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.47 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 17.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,475 a month means $738 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,286 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $16,734.
How fast you can save
At $954 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 11 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 22 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in Union County, TN
How much do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand make per hour in Union County, TN?
The median is $17.98 per hour, based on $37,400 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.22 at the 10th percentile to $23.34 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand take home after taxes in Union County, TN?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $37,400 becomes $32,179 a year. That is $2,682 a month, $1,238 every two weeks or $619 a week.
How much tax do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in Union County, TN?
Total taxes are $5,221 a year, an effective rate of 14.0%: $2,360 federal income tax, $2,861 FICA and no Tennessee income tax.
Do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn more in Union County, TN than elsewhere in Tennessee?
No. The local median of $37,400 is -3.3% versus the Tennessee average of $38,657, a difference of $1,257 a year.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford a one-bedroom apartment in Union County, TN?
A one-bedroom costs $1,178 a month against take-home pay of $2,682, which is 43.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $935 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Union County, TN?
About $954 a month ($11,448 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,731 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Union County, TN at the 30% guideline?
$22.65 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,136 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $17.98.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Knoxville, 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.