Software Developer Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $122K, rent takes 15.4% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,215/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new software developers typically earn — is $75K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $5,112/month. At HUD’s $1,215/month FMR, rent would take 24% of that take-home — manageable on an entry-level income.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $122K locally vs. $136K nationally, a 10% difference.

Tennessee pays $122K median vs. the U.S. average of $136K — that’s -10%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 89.78), the purchasing-power equivalent is $136K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $122,430 a year, that works out to about $59 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $75,280, and experienced software developers can clear $166,380. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $7,870/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,215/month, which eats 15.4% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Tennessee has a Regional Price Parity of 89.78 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median software developers salary is worth about $136,367 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.