Memphis, TN-MS-AR Salaries

Highest published occupation medians in Memphis, TN-MS-AR - BLS OEWS May 2025

Observed metro pay change

What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025

May 2024 → May 2025
  • BLS's published All Occupations median in Memphis, TN-MS-AR moved from $45,610 in May 2024 to $46,890 in May 2025 (+2.8%).
  • Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
  • Memphis, TN-MS-AR sits -0.3 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.

Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Memphis, TN-MS-AR

Waiters and Waitresses publishes $24,550 here versus $35,230 nationally (-30.3%; 8,060metro-area jobs). Next is Managers, All Other at $104,050 locally versus $141,900 nationally (-26.7%).

  1. Waiters and Waitresses$24,550 in Memphis, TN-MS-AR sits 30.3% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (8,060 published local jobs).
  2. Managers, All Other$104,050 in Memphis, TN-MS-AR sits 26.7% below the national Managers, All Other median of $141,900 (2,620 published local jobs).
  3. Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents$58,500 in Memphis, TN-MS-AR sits 25.6% below the national Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents median of $78,660 (2,210 published local jobs).
  4. Food Preparation Workers$27,290 in Memphis, TN-MS-AR sits 22.7% below the national Food Preparation Workers median of $35,320 (3,530 published local jobs).

Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Memphis, TN-MS-AR; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.

BLS OEWS metro wage desk

MSA 32820 · Memphis, TN-MS-AR $59K mean

MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL

  • MEAN-MID #210/528
  • RPP-LOW 92.2
  • OCC-MOST 564 occs
  • TOP-LEAD Neurologists · $536K
  • EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
  • TREND-INLINE -0.3 pp
  • PHOTO-FINISH Hanford-Corcoran…
  • BOOK-FULL 553 rows · May 2025

Read with Hanford-Corcoran, CA ($20 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 Memphis, TN-MS-AR

Guayama, PR · lowest mean: $32KGuayama, PR · lowest mean$32KMemphis, TN-MS-AR · this MSA: $59KMemphis, TN-MS-AR · this MSA$59KHanford-Corcoran, CA · near: $59KHanford-Corcoran, CA · near$59KKnoxville, TN · near: $59KKnoxville, TN · near$59KAsheville, NC · near: $60KAsheville, NC · near$60KBattle Creek, MI · near: $60KBattle Creek, MI · near$60KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean: $119KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · high…$119K
Read the chart as text
Label Value
Guayama, PR · lowest mean $32K
Memphis, TN-MS-AR · this MSA $59K
Hanford-Corcoran, CA · near $59K
Knoxville, TN · near $59K
Asheville, NC · near $60K
Battle Creek, MI · near $60K
San Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean $119K

Employment scale inside Memphis, TN-MS-AR's top-pay list

Financial Managers and Computer and Information Systems Managers lead published employment inside Memphis, TN-MS-AR's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.

  1. 1. Financial Managers 2,750 jobs · $143,880
  2. 2. Computer and Information Systems Managers 1,710 jobs · $161,790
  3. 3. Lawyers 1,670 jobs · $134,440
  4. 4. Pharmacists 1,460 jobs · $134,220
  5. 5. Administrative Services Managers 1,430 jobs · $130,580
  6. 6. Marketing Managers 1,180 jobs · $132,540
  7. 7. Physicians, All Other 950 jobs · $388,960
  8. 8. Human Resources Managers 760 jobs · $138,560
  9. 9. Chief Executives 680 jobs · $196,680
  10. 10. Family Medicine Physicians 360 jobs · $256,240
  11. 11. General Internal Medicine Physicians 340 jobs · $298,620
  12. 12. Dentists, General 280 jobs · $238,040
  13. 13. Purchasing Managers 240 jobs · $156,830
  14. 14. Natural Sciences Managers 210 jobs · $155,420
  15. 15. Nurse Anesthetists 200 jobs · $243,240
  16. 16. Aerospace Engineers 130 jobs · $129,830
  17. 17. Pediatricians, General 120 jobs · $168,200
  18. 18. Public Relations Managers 120 jobs · $141,340

Occupations Tracked

564

with wage data

Published-Row Mean

$59,430

employment-weighted, 553 complete rows

Top Salary

$535,950

Neurologists

Cost of Living

92.2

8% below US avg

Price-level adjustment: Dividing the derived published-row mean of $59,430 by the metro RPP gives $64,472 on a national-price basis. This is not an after-tax income or a personal cost-of-living result.

Highest Paying Jobs in Memphis, TN-MS-AR

# Occupation Median Salary
1 Neurologists $535,950
2 Physicians, All Other $388,960
3 Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric $325,520
4 General Internal Medicine Physicians $298,620
5 Family Medicine Physicians $256,240
6 Nurse Anesthetists $243,240
7 Dentists, General $238,040
8 Chief Executives $196,680
9 Architectural and Engineering Managers $179,670
10 Pediatricians, General $168,200
11 Computer and Information Systems Managers $161,790
12 Purchasing Managers $156,830
13 Natural Sciences Managers $155,420
14 Financial Managers $143,880
15 Public Relations Managers $141,340
16 Physicists $139,810
17 Human Resources Managers $138,560
18 Psychologists, All Other $138,300
19 Lawyers $134,440
20 Pharmacists $134,220
21 Compensation and Benefits Managers $133,150
22 Marketing Managers $132,540
23 Administrative Services Managers $130,580
24 Aerospace Engineers $129,830
25 Optometrists $129,080

Lowest Paying Jobs in Memphis, TN-MS-AR

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 ($59,430 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 Memphis, TN-MS-AR?
Across the 553 occupation rows for Memphis, TN-MS-AR with both a published mean wage and employment estimate, weighting each mean by employment gives $59,430/year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The page has 564 occupations with a published median, a different denominator. This WageDex-derived benchmark is not a BLS-published All Occupations metro mean or median and does not state what a typical local worker earns. For contrast, averaging the medians of only the 25 highest-paying occupations gives $197,236, which describes the displayed top tier only.
Which published medians lead Memphis, TN-MS-AR?
Neurologists holds the highest published median in Memphis, TN-MS-AR at $535,950/year (BLS OEWS May 2025). Next is Physicians, All Other at $388,960/year. These are occupation medians for this metropolitan statistical area, not employer offers.
What is the cost of living in Memphis, TN-MS-AR?
Memphis, TN-MS-AR has a Regional Price Parity of 92.2, meaning prices are 8% below the national average. Dividing the derived published-row mean of $59,430 by the RPP gives a national-price-equivalent benchmark of $64,472.
Where does BLS salary data for Memphis, TN-MS-AR come from?
All salary figures are Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 estimates for this metropolitan statistical area. OEWS surveys approximately 1.1 million business establishments. Medians and means on this page are the published occupation-level estimates for the area — not job-board scrapes or modeled employer offers.

Last updated: May 2025 (BLS OEWS annual release). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025. Cost-of-living index: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.

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.

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