AI / ML Engineer Salary in Tennessee (2026)
The average AI / ML Engineer in Tennessee earns around $220,000/year. After taxes, your estimated take-home is $163,487/year ($13,624/month).
Take-Home Pay Breakdown
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
Annual Take-Home Pay | $163,487 |
Monthly Take-Home Pay | $13,624 |
Biweekly Take-Home Pay | $6,288 |
Hourly Take-Home Pay based on 2,080 hrs/year | $79/hr |
Federal Tax | $41,704 |
State Tax | $0 |
FICA Taxes | $14,809 |
Effective Tax Rate total taxes ÷ gross salary | 25.69% |
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Read the guideAI / ML Engineer Salary Ranges in Tennessee
Not all AI / ML Engineers earn the same — not even close
Tennessee's AI/ML engineering market is anchored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center research AI (~40K Nashville employees, substantial computational biology), HCA Healthcare HQ Nashville (Fortune 100, ~$70B revenue, the country's largest for-profit hospital system clinical analytics + revenue cycle AI), Asurion Nashville (Fortune 500 mobile device protection + identity-as-a-service, substantial fraud + identity ML), Oracle Nashville campus (post-2021 relocation, database + cloud AI), Bridgestone Americas Nashville (tire + automotive analytics), plus Oak Ridge National Laboratory cleared research AI.
Principal ML Engineer / Senior Scientist
$215,000–$385,000+ TC
Vanderbilt senior research · HCA senior AI · Asurion senior platform · ORNL senior research
Senior ML Engineer (Healthcare Provider)
$155,000–$245,000
Vanderbilt UMC research · HCA clinical AI · Methodist Le Bonheur · clinical-data ML premium
Senior ML Engineer (Identity / Fraud)
$165,000–$255,000
Asurion identity-as-a-service · mobile device fraud · senior platform security ML
Senior ML Engineer (Cleared Research)
$165,000–$265,000
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE-funded, ~6K employees) · cleared research AI · Frontier supercomputer
Senior ML Engineer (Cloud / Database)
$155,000–$245,000
Oracle Nashville · database + cloud AI · senior IC at relocated tech firms
Senior MLOps Engineer
$135,000–$210,000
Production ML deployment · HCA clinical pipelines · Asurion real-time scoring · senior platform IC
ML Engineer (Mid-Level, 3-6 yrs)
$110,000–$165,000
Most common mid-career band · Vanderbilt + UT Knoxville + MTSU + Belmont pipeline · cross-industry
Junior ML Engineer (0-3 yrs)
$85,000–$125,000
Post-Vanderbilt + UT Knoxville + Tennessee Tech MS/PhD · entry band · ORNL + HCA new-grad
Senior Computational Biologist (St. Jude)
$165,000–$275,000
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital · pediatric oncology genomics + drug-discovery AI · academic premium
Senior Research Scientist (ORNL Frontier)
$155,000–$265,000
Oak Ridge Frontier exascale supercomputer · DOE-funded scientific ML · cleared work + GS scale plus premium
Worth knowing: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the structural depth feature most national AI/ML-career surveys understate for TN. ORNL (DOE-funded, ~6K employees, located near Oak Ridge TN with substantial Knoxville-area cluster) operates the Frontier supercomputer — the world's first exascale supercomputer (achieved exascale performance May 2022, currently #1 or #2 on TOP500 list). Frontier's compute capacity drives substantial AI/ML research in materials science + biology + climate + fusion + quantum simulation at scales not available elsewhere. Senior ORNL research scientists clear $165-285K TC including academic + research-grant structure. Vanderbilt University Medical Center research division (substantial NIH-funded computational biology + clinical AI) plus Vanderbilt Computer Science academic AI research drive substantial Nashville AI/ML pipeline. HCA Healthcare HQ Nashville (Fortune 100, ~$70B revenue) operates substantial clinical analytics + revenue cycle AI at scale. Asurion Nashville (Fortune 500, ~16K global employees, mobile device protection + identity-as-a-service) operates substantial fraud detection + identity ML. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Memphis adds pediatric oncology genomics + drug-discovery AI. TN's 0% state income tax (Article II §28) means $250K senior ML engineer keeps ~$15K more annually than peer-state IN or MO equivalents.
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More on Tennessee
Salaries by profession, top-paying roles by industry, and an economic breakdown for Tennessee in 2026.
Tax brackets, standard deductions, and take-home estimates for Tennessee in 2026.
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