Can a Software Engineer afford to live in Nashville?

Excellent66% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Software Engineer · Nashville
$134,929
Income tax (~26% effective)
United States
– $35,614
Take-home pay
$8,276/mo
$99,315
Living costs (1 person)
$2,800/mo · derived
– $33,600
Savings potential
$5,476/mo · 66% of take-home
$65,715

Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.

Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in Nashville? →Compare Nashville with another city →

How we calculated this

• Salary: BLS OES median for Software Engineer, adjusted for Nashville.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~26%). Official calculator.

• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.