Chattanooga, TN-GA Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 91.5) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Chattanooga, TN-GA moved from $45,440 in May 2024 to $46,700 in May 2025 (+2.8%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Chattanooga, TN-GA sits -0.3 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.
Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Chattanooga, TN-GA
Waiters and Waitresses publishes $24,240 here versus $35,230 nationally (-31.2%; 4,790metro-area jobs). Next is Registered Nurses at $79,770 locally versus $97,550 nationally (-18.2%).
- Waiters and Waitresses$24,240 in Chattanooga, TN-GA sits 31.2% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (4,790 published local jobs).
- Registered Nurses$79,770 in Chattanooga, TN-GA sits 18.2% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (6,460 published local jobs).
- Office Clerks, General$37,860 in Chattanooga, TN-GA sits 15.9% below the national Office Clerks, General median of $45,010 (3,920 published local jobs).
- Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants$38,640 in Chattanooga, TN-GA sits 15.9% below the national Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants median of $45,930 (3,590 published local jobs).
Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Chattanooga, TN-GA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 16860 · Chattanooga, TN-GA $58K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-LOW #265/528
- RPP-LOW 91.5
- OCC-MOST 464 occs
- TOP-LEAD Cardiologists · $610K
- EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
- TREND-INLINE -0.3 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Pensacola-Ferry…
- BOOK-FULL 459 rows · May 2025
Read with Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL (+$1 on published-row mean) · Salary vs. cost of living
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer, not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Chattanooga, TN-GA
Where Chattanooga, TN-GA already employs the upper wage tier
Financial Managers and Pharmacists lead published employment inside Chattanooga, TN-GA's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Financial Managers 1,280 jobs · $151,530
- 2. Pharmacists 750 jobs · $132,240
- 3. Lawyers 740 jobs · $147,640
- 4. Industrial Production Managers 680 jobs · $121,670
- 5. Administrative Services Managers 670 jobs · $130,540
- 6. Computer and Information Systems Managers 660 jobs · $152,980
- 7. Marketing Managers 460 jobs · $124,360
- 8. Chief Executives 440 jobs · $209,990
- 9. Electrical Engineers 440 jobs · $123,840
- 10. Architectural and Engineering Managers 370 jobs · $163,720
- 11. Physicians, All Other 330 jobs · $429,900
- 12. Human Resources Managers 320 jobs · $129,900
- 13. Dentists, General 190 jobs · $160,620
- 14. Veterinarians 190 jobs · $125,790
- 15. Physician Assistants 180 jobs · $121,600
- 16. Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 110 jobs · $119,180
- 17. Nuclear Engineers 100 jobs · $146,850
- 18. Purchasing Managers 100 jobs · $123,750
Occupations Tracked
464
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$57,906
employment-weighted, 459 complete rows
Top Salary
$610,080
Cardiologists
Cost of Living
91.5
9% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Chattanooga, TN-GA, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Financial Managers | $151,530 |
| 2 | Pharmacists | $132,240 |
| 3 | Lawyers | $147,640 |
| 4 | Industrial Production Managers | $121,670 |
| 5 | Administrative Services Managers | $130,540 |
| 6 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $152,980 |
| 7 | Marketing Managers | $124,360 |
| 8 | Chief Executives | $209,990 |
| 9 | Electrical Engineers | $123,840 |
| 10 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $163,720 |
| 11 | Physicians, All Other | $429,900 |
| 12 | Human Resources Managers | $129,900 |
| 13 | Dentists, General | $160,620 |
| 14 | Veterinarians | $125,790 |
| 15 | Physician Assistants | $121,600 |
| 16 | Electronics Engineers, Except Computer | $119,180 |
| 17 | Nuclear Engineers | $146,850 |
| 18 | Purchasing Managers | $123,750 |
| 19 | Family Medicine Physicians | $264,690 |
| 20 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $291,200 |
| 21 | Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors | $133,060 |
| 22 | Optometrists | $126,600 |
| 23 | Cardiologists | $610,080 |
| 24 | Commercial Pilots | $130,630 |
| 25 | Pediatricians, General | $163,320 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Chattanooga, TN-GA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $24,240 |
| Bartenders | $25,650 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $26,450 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $26,890 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $27,030 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $27,140 |
| Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary | $27,230 |
| Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan | $27,420 |
| Entertainment Attendants and Related Workers, All Other | $27,480 |
| Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | $27,520 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in TN
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside TN. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($57,906 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the lower price level do to Chattanooga, TN-GA wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Chattanooga, TN-GA? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Chattanooga, TN-GA? ▼
Which federal tables feed Chattanooga, TN-GA's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Chattanooga, TN-GA wage figures in a real decision
- Cardiologists leads published medians in Chattanooga, TN-GA at $610,080/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Cardiologists
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $57,906 adjusts to about $63,310 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 91.5. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for TN before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.