Loading...
Short answer: solid, without being the number it sounds like. Here's what that number leaves out.
That's what a $100,000 Memphis salary is actually worth, after federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, and local prices that run 7.8% below the national average. Tennessee charges no state income tax, which helps. It doesn't rescue you.
Here's something the salary comparison sites bury: Memphis is cheaper than the national average. Not dramatically. But your money does more here than the headlines about cost of living would suggest.
So let's put real numbers on it.
Start with the headline number and subtract reality. Single filer, standard deduction, 2026 brackets:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | $100,000 |
| Federal income tax | −$13,170 |
| Social Security and Medicare | −$7,650 |
| Tennessee state income tax | $0 |
| Take-home pay | $79,180 |
| Adjusted for Memphis prices (7.8% below average) | $85,879 |
That last row is the one that matters and it's the one nobody shows you. Your $79,180 spends like $85,879 would somewhere average. The federal government scores every metro against a national average of 100, and Memphis scores 92.2. Memphis hands you back roughly $6,700 a year of purchasing power you would not have somewhere average.
Tennessee's zero income tax is real money. It just isn't enough money.
Tennessee charges no personal income tax, genuinely worth about $4,200 a year at this income compared with a typical taxing state.
Which is real. It's also outweighed roughly 1.6 to one by what everything costs once you're here.
Everything above assumes a single filer, which is the common case for "is this salary any good" and the wrong one for plenty of readers. If $100,000 is a household's income and you file jointly, the federal picture changes a lot: the standard deduction doubles and every bracket widens, so federal tax falls from $13,170 to $7,640. That is $5,530 a year back in your pocket.
| Line | Single | Filing jointly |
|---|---|---|
| Federal income tax | $13,170 | $7,640 |
| Social Security and Medicare | $7,650 | $7,650 |
| Take-home pay, at least | $79,180 | $84,710 |
| Same buying power as | $85,879 | $91,876 |
One caveat on that joint column, and it runs in your favour. We hold Tennessee tax at the single-filer figure, because state schedules for joint filers vary and we would rather understate the benefit than guess at it. Most states widen their brackets for joint filers too, so your real joint take-home is likely a little higher than the number above, not lower.
The cheapness here is concentrated where it counts. Housing in Memphis runs 20% below the national average, against goods at 4% below.
Housing is the biggest line in most budgets, so a discount there is worth more than the headline figure suggests. This is the kind of place where a middling salary buys space.
Utilities are a genuine bright spot, running 26% below the national average.
A one-bedroom at Memphis's fair market rent runs $1,154 a month, $1,274 for a two-bedroom. Against take-home of $6,598 a month, the one-bedroom eats 17% of it.
Well under the 30% most lenders and budgets assume, leaving $5,444 a month for everything that isn't rent.
Memphis peaked in 2016 at 95.2 and has been coming back down since. It now sits 3 index points below that high.
That matters more than it sounds. Anyone quoting you a Memphis cost-of-living figure from a few years ago is quoting the peak, and the peak is not where things are.
For what it's worth, Memphis has not been more expensive than the national average in a single year of this series.
Reverse the question and it works in your favour: $92,200 here matches $100,000 in an average city.
The same salary is simply worth more here. Useful to know before anyone talks you into a lower number.
| Metro | Price level100 = US avg | State tax | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memphis, TN | 92.2 | None | $85,879 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | 90.4 | 4.0% | $83,214 |
| Kansas City, MO | 92.5 | 3.8% | $81,532 |
| Charlotte, NC | 97.3 | 3.5% | $77,799 |
Your salary, your two cities, real federal price data. Takes about fifteen seconds.
Compare my citiesIt's solid. $100,000 converts to $85,879 of real spending power in Memphis, which puts you in decent shape without putting you in a penthouse.
It'll rent you somewhere decent without drama and it won't make you rich. Both of those are true at once.
After tax you keep about $79,180, which is roughly $6,598 a month. Against Memphis's price level of 92.2, where 100 is the national average, that spends like $85,879 would somewhere average. Comfortable for one person, workable for two, tighter than the headline number suggests once there are children involved.
About $92,200, matching Memphis's price level of 92.2 against the national average of 100. If you're moving from a specific city rather than the national average, run both through the calculator, because the answer moves a lot.
No. At $100,000 the missing state income tax is worth roughly $4,200 a year compared with a typical taxing state, while Memphis's price level costs about $6,700 against the national average.
Price levels are Regional Price Parities from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the federal government's official measure of geographic price differences. Tax figures are 2026 federal brackets and Tennessee state rates. We show the data vintage on every page so you know exactly how current the figures are.