Knoxville, TN Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Knoxville, TN - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Knoxville, TN moved from $45,460 in May 2024 to $47,080 in May 2025 (+3.6%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Knoxville, TN sits +0.5 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.
Managers, All Other shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Knoxville, TN
Managers, All Other publishes $101,930 here versus $141,900 nationally (-28.2%; 2,430metro-area jobs). Next is Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary at $26,960 locally versus $36,780 nationally (-26.7%).
- Managers, All Other$101,930 in Knoxville, TN sits 28.2% below the national Managers, All Other median of $141,900 (2,430 published local jobs).
- Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$26,960 in Knoxville, TN sits 26.7% below the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (3,070 published local jobs).
- Registered Nurses$77,240 in Knoxville, TN sits 20.8% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (9,500 published local jobs).
- Waiters and Waitresses$28,100 in Knoxville, TN sits 20.2% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (7,260 published local jobs).
Managers, All Other and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Knoxville, TN; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 28940 · Knoxville, TN $59K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #212/528
- RPP-LOW 92.6
- OCC-MOST 536 occs
- TOP-LEAD Family Medicin… · $460K
- EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
- TREND-INLINE +0.5 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Lewiston-Auburn,…
- BOOK-FULL 528 rows · May 2025
Read with Lewiston-Auburn, ME ($55 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
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 Knoxville, TN
Employment scale inside Knoxville, TN's top-pay list
Financial Managers and Computer and Information Systems Managers lead published employment inside Knoxville, TN's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Financial Managers 2,090 jobs · $133,570
- 2. Computer and Information Systems Managers 1,380 jobs · $143,650
- 3. Pharmacists 990 jobs · $132,460
- 4. Marketing Managers 930 jobs · $131,040
- 5. Physicians, All Other 690 jobs · $276,370
- 6. Architectural and Engineering Managers 610 jobs · $162,950
- 7. Family Medicine Physicians 590 jobs · $460,080
- 8. Human Resources Managers 530 jobs · $132,200
- 9. Chief Executives 510 jobs · $198,890
- 10. Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary 370 jobs · $129,240
- 11. Nuclear Engineers 240 jobs · $179,660
- 12. Nurse Anesthetists 220 jobs · $213,900
- 13. Dentists, General 220 jobs · $157,900
- 14. Purchasing Managers 210 jobs · $139,530
- 15. Natural Sciences Managers 170 jobs · $141,130
- 16. Physicists 120 jobs · $165,010
- 17. General Internal Medicine Physicians 100 jobs · $314,020
- 18. Public Relations Managers 90 jobs · $140,660
Occupations Tracked
536
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$59,351
employment-weighted, 528 complete rows
Top Salary
$460,080
Family Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
92.6
7% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Knoxville, TN
Lowest Paying Jobs in Knoxville, TN
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Substitute Teachers, Short-Term | $21,520 |
| Telemarketers | $21,990 |
| School Bus Monitors | $26,680 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $26,920 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | $26,960 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $27,250 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $27,280 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $27,580 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $27,720 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $28,100 |
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 ($59,351 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 is the average salary in Knoxville, TN? ▼
Which published medians lead Knoxville, TN? ▼
What is the cost of living in Knoxville, TN? ▼
Where does BLS salary data for Knoxville, TN come from? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Knoxville, TN wage figures in a real decision
- Family Medicine Physicians leads published medians in Knoxville, TN at $460,080/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Family Medicine Physicians
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $59,351 adjusts to about $64,115 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 92.6. 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.