Highest Paying Jobs in Tennessee

Top 100 occupations ranked by median annual salary — Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025

Highest Salary

$610,080

Cardiologists

Top 25 Average

$254,142

median salary

$100K+ Jobs

occupations

Occupations

100

with wage data

This ranking surfaces the 100 highest-paying occupations in Tennessee by BLS OEWS state median salary, drawn from the May 2025 release. At the top, Cardiologists pays a state median of $610,080, +23% above the national median of $496,010 for the same role. Of the 100 tracked positions, 82 pay above $100,000 per year in Tennessee — a useful threshold for separating specialist professional roles from mid-tier employment. The top-10 average sits at $353,210, giving a sense of what elite specialists inside this state actually clear.

The "Difference" column compares each state median to the corresponding national median for the same SOC code, making pay premiums and discounts immediately visible. In this list, 26 of 100 occupations pay above the national median in Tennessee, which usually signals one of three things: a local concentration of specialized employers (finance hubs, tech clusters, research universities, federal agencies), a cost-of-living adjustment baked into state-wide wage scales, or scarce in-state talent supply bidding up competitive roles. Occupations paying below the national median are not necessarily bad news — they often reflect lower cost of living in the state or industries where Tennessee is not a concentrated employer.

Rankings like this show ceiling-potential by specialty, but they don't tell you the odds of landing one of those roles. Pair this table with the employment column (how many workers the state actually employs in each occupation) and the growth projections on each occupation's national page to see whether the field is expanding or contracting. BLS wages exclude benefits, bonuses, and overtime — especially distorting for top-paying roles where equity and performance compensation can represent 30-50% of total pay. Use this leaderboard to shortlist careers worth exploring in Tennessee, then drill into each row's linked profile to check percentile spread, typical education, metro-level variation, and whether projected openings match your timeline.

#	Occupation	State Median	National	Difference	Employment
1	Cardiologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$610,080	$496,010	+23% above	560
2	Dermatologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$433,630	$328,730	+32% above	100
3	Surgeons, All Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$373,510	$414,010	10% below	490
4	Obstetricians and Gynecologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$354,580	$292,910	+21% above	360
5	Orthodontists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$339,610	$289,140	+17% above	N/A
6	Anesthesiologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$330,620	$391,490	16% below	840
7	Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$325,520	$358,550	9% below	180
8	Physicians, All Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$301,290	$265,930	+13% above	5,340
9	General Internal Medicine Physicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$232,220	$256,560	9% below	1,370
10	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$231,040	$300,080	23% below	230
11	Neurologists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$229,670	$248,560	8% below	220
12	Family Medicine Physicians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$226,830	$244,180	7% below	2,260
13	Dentists, General Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$215,290	$170,950	+26% above	2,200
14	Psychiatrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$214,880	$281,870	24% below	410
15	Podiatrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$212,470	$160,300	+33% above	70
16	Nurse Anesthetists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$211,450	$236,590	11% below	1,690
17	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates Legal Occupations	$208,350	$153,990	+35% above	420
18	Chief Executives Management Occupations	$198,830	$213,990	7% below	4,700
19	Pediatricians, General Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$176,210	$210,040	16% below	740
20	Physicists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$165,010	$172,250	4% below	240
21	Architectural and Engineering Managers Management Occupations	$161,430	$171,270	6% below	3,600
22	Computer and Information Systems Managers Management Occupations	$158,700	$175,140	9% below	12,040
23	Air Traffic Controllers Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$157,330	$148,080	+6% above	590
24	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$143,580	$232,140	38% below	110
25	Acupuncturists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$141,430	$76,040	+86% above	N/A
26	Financial Managers Management Occupations	$141,010	$166,570	15% below	17,630
27	Psychologists, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$138,070	$110,840	+25% above	200
28	Purchasing Managers Management Occupations	$137,060	$148,080	7% below	1,460
29	Lawyers Legal Occupations	$136,180	$159,670	15% below	9,010
30	Medical Dosimetrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$135,530	$147,470	8% below	60
31	Biochemists and Biophysicists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$134,560	$127,410	+6% above	60
32	Optometrists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$134,170	$136,570	2% below	660
33	Pharmacists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$133,390	$140,910	5% below	8,250
34	Compensation and Benefits Managers Management Occupations	$132,780	$149,230	11% below	670
35	Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$132,710	$92,460	+44% above	940
36	Marketing Managers Management Occupations	$131,990	$166,790	21% below	7,730
37	Human Resources Managers Management Occupations	$131,760	$149,280	12% below	4,310
38	Computer Hardware Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$130,830	$161,740	19% below	N/A
39	Physical Scientists, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$129,570	$122,570	+6% above	120
40	Aerospace Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$128,510	$134,960	5% below	610
41	Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$128,270	$98,700	+30% above	350
42	Sales Managers Management Occupations	$128,040	$148,270	14% below	12,270
43	Administrative Services Managers Management Occupations	$127,410	$114,130	+12% above	8,170
44	Public Relations Managers Management Occupations	$127,390	$146,910	13% below	700
45	Natural Sciences Managers Management Occupations	$124,530	$167,220	26% below	880
46	Veterinarians Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$124,350	$130,100	4% below	1,730
47	Computer Network Architects Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$123,860	$134,050	8% below	4,330
48	Electronics Engineers, Except Computer Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$122,920	$130,220	6% below	740
49	Software Developers Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$122,430	$135,980	10% below	19,030
50	Training and Development Managers Management Occupations	$121,030	$133,000	9% below	840
51	Industrial Production Managers Management Occupations	$119,430	$126,060	5% below	6,310
52	Education Administrators, All Other Management Occupations	$118,330	$95,200	+24% above	720
53	Physician Assistants Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$118,240	$135,880	13% below	2,240
54	Economists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$117,650	$124,720	6% below	80
55	Nurse Practitioners Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$117,590	$132,300	11% below	12,150
56	Commercial Pilots Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	$117,480	$123,220	5% below	1,030
57	Nurse Midwives Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$116,980	$134,040	13% below	330
58	Power Plant Operators Production Occupations	$115,920	$102,040	+14% above	490
59	Database Administrators Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$115,500	$104,620	+10% above	2,020
60	Information Security Analysts Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$115,430	$129,180	11% below	3,330
61	Database Architects Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$115,170	$139,500	17% below	650
62	Sales Engineers Sales and Related Occupations	$111,580	$124,900	11% below	530
63	Construction Managers Management Occupations	$110,200	$114,990	4% below	5,860
64	Actuaries Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$108,930	$130,000	16% below	300
65	Computer and Information Research Scientists Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$108,830	$140,300	22% below	N/A
66	Life Scientists, All Other Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$108,770	$93,750	+16% above	40
67	Fundraising Managers Management Occupations	$107,760	$125,470	14% below	300
68	Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers Legal Occupations	$107,740	$117,860	9% below	380
69	Medical and Health Services Managers Management Occupations	$107,120	$123,860	14% below	14,160
70	General and Operations Managers Management Occupations	$106,970	$105,770	+1% above	63,720
71	Facilities Managers Management Occupations	$106,730	$106,660	same as	2,580
72	Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$106,470	$109,370	3% below	170
73	Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$104,560	$123,920	16% below	250
74	Electrical Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$104,450	$120,630	13% below	2,830
75	Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$102,720	$103,410	1% below	4,020
76	Education Administrators, Postsecondary Management Occupations	$100,850	$104,590	4% below	2,680
77	Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers Management Occupations	$100,740	$107,230	6% below	4,910
78	Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$100,640	$109,270	8% below	790
79	Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers Construction and Extraction Occupations	$100,490	$109,910	9% below	700
80	Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$100,390	$106,220	5% below	N/A
81	Data Scientists Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$100,330	$120,230	17% below	2,790
82	Physical Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$100,140	$102,760	3% below	4,800
83	Mechanical Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$99,550	$104,110	4% below	3,930
84	Managers, All Other Management Occupations	$99,430	$141,900	30% below	17,510
85	Management Analysts Business and Financial Operations Occupations	$99,260	$101,860	3% below	13,700
86	Postmasters and Mail Superintendents Management Occupations	$99,170	$96,660	+3% above	260
87	Industrial Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$99,080	$102,440	3% below	7,440
88	Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$98,870	$107,310	8% below	4,400
89	Environmental Science Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$98,560	$94,980	+4% above	100
90	Statisticians Computer and Mathematical Occupations	$98,230	$105,650	7% below	530
91	Advertising and Promotions Managers Management Occupations	$98,170	$133,660	27% below	N/A
92	Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary Educational Instruction and Library Occupations	$98,160	$99,650	1% below	80
93	Occupational Therapists Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	$97,700	$100,330	3% below	2,490
94	Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary Management Occupations	$97,590	$105,870	8% below	6,180
95	Epidemiologists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$97,310	$87,220	+12% above	220
96	Environmental Engineers Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$97,190	$107,110	9% below	540
97	Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	$96,840	$103,020	6% below	430
98	Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers Production Occupations	$96,730	$96,710	same as	170
99	Engineers, All Other Architecture and Engineering Occupations	$96,640	$122,930	21% below	4,400
100	Atmospheric and Space Scientists Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	$96,190	$99,070	3% below	230

More ways to explore Tennessee pay and compare with national data.

Tennessee Overview

Full state salary data

Fastest Growing in Tennessee

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Highest paying jobs nationwide

Cardiologists

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About This Data

All salary data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. State-level data reflects wages for workers employed in Tennessee. The "Difference" column shows how Tennessee pay compares to the national median for that occupation.

Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Reviewed byWageDex Editorial, Occupational Wages Editorial Team · June 3, 2026

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