Knoxville, TN

Across all occupations in the Knoxville, TN metropolitan area, the median wage is $47,080 a year ($22.63 an hour) and the mean $59,890, May 2025. That median is −8% against the US median of $50,980 and −1% against Tennessee's $47,380. BLS counts 424,600 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is family medicine physicians; the largest is fast food and counter workers.

All occupations: Knoxville, TN vs Tennessee and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Knoxville, TN area, Tennessee and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Knoxville, TN	Hourly	$13.56	$17.01	$22.63	$33.12	$48.89	$28.80	424,600
Knoxville, TN	Annual	$28,210	$35,370	$47,080	$68,890	$101,680	$59,890	424,600
Tennessee	Hourly	$13.75	$17.23	$22.78	$34.16	$49.58	$29.23	3,278,760
Tennessee	Annual	$28,600	$35,830	$47,380	$71,050	$103,130	$60,800	3,278,760
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

536 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profile: Tennessee. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Knoxville, TN

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Family Medicine Physicians	$460,080	$221.19	590
2	Obstetricians and Gynecologists	$365,260	$175.61	30
3	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$314,020	$150.97	100
4	Physicians, All Other	$276,370	$132.87	690
5	Nurse Anesthetists	$213,900	$102.84	220
6	Chief Executives	$198,890	$95.62	510
7	Nuclear Engineers	$179,660	$86.38	240
8	Physicists	$165,010	$79.33	120
9	Pediatricians, General	$164,720	$79.19	**
10	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$162,950	$78.34	610
11	Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	$162,850	*	30
12	Dentists, General	$157,900	$75.92	220
13	Biochemists and Biophysicists	$149,140	$71.70	30
14	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$148,580	$71.43	40
15	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Tennessee	$143,650	$69.06	1,380
16	Natural Sciences Managers	$141,130	$67.85	170
17	Public Relations Managers	$140,660	$67.63	90
18	Purchasing Managers	$139,530	$67.08	210
19	Physical Scientists, All Other	$136,990	$65.86	60
20	Financial Managers in Tennessee	$133,570	$64.21	2,090

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Knoxville, TN

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Tennessee	12,730	29.97	1.21	$27,720
2	Retail Salespersons in Tennessee	12,430	29.27	1.17	$31,150
3	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Tennessee	10,120	23.84	1.26	$37,400
4	Registered Nurses in Tennessee	9,500	22.37	1.03	$77,240
5	General and Operations Managers in Tennessee	8,660	20.39	0.91	$104,590
6	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Tennessee	8,130	19.14	1.44	$59,100
7	Cashiers in Tennessee	8,030	18.90	0.95	$29,110
8	Stockers and Order Fillers in Tennessee	7,730	18.20	1.00	$35,410
9	Waiters and Waitresses in Tennessee	7,260	17.10	1.17	$28,100
10	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Tennessee	7,150	16.83	1.18	$31,200
11	Customer Service Representatives in Tennessee	6,640	15.64	0.94	$38,840
12	Office Clerks, General in Tennessee	6,460	15.21	0.96	$37,920
13	Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Tennessee	6,280	14.79	2.39	$38,420
14	First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers in Tennessee	6,170	14.54	1.57	$63,580
15	Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in Tennessee	5,940	13.98	1.55	$39,220
16	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Tennessee	4,790	11.27	1.03	$46,000
17	Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Tennessee	4,640	10.92	1.11	$46,170
18	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Tennessee	4,610	10.85	0.39	$32,710
19	Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in Tennessee	4,510	10.62	1.20	$47,320
20	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in Tennessee	4,150	9.78	1.24	$41,380

Most concentrated occupations in Knoxville, TN

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians	7.48	250	0.59	$91,440
2	Nuclear Engineers	5.74	240	0.56	$179,660
3	Transportation Workers, All Other	5.56	210	0.49	$34,390
4	Metal Workers and Plastic Workers, All Other	4.97	220	0.51	$35,530
5	Grounds Maintenance Workers, All Other	4.68	170	0.41	$40,550
6	Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	4.66	320	0.76	$58,680
7	Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	4.45	740	1.74	$51,170
8	Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	4.04	350	0.82	$47,920
9	Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other	4.01	810	1.91	$62,050
10	Production Workers, All Other	3.84	2,640	6.21	$39,560

Occupation groups in Knoxville, TN

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$109,880	$130,930	28,050	66.06	0.92
Legal	$85,030	$106,770	2,460	5.79	0.69
Computer and Mathematical	$84,710	$92,920	10,430	24.57	0.73
Architecture and Engineering	$83,880	$94,240	8,410	19.80	1.18
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$75,660	$93,980	28,720	67.63	1.07
Business and Financial Operations	$74,780	$81,330	24,380	57.41	0.85
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$73,820	$83,490	4,140	9.76	1.03
Educational Instruction and Library	$61,830	$63,540	20,290	47.79	0.82
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$53,610	$57,660	19,070	44.92	1.15
Community and Social Service	$51,540	$53,560	5,670	13.34	0.78
Construction and Extraction	$50,120	$55,600	17,710	41.70	1.01
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$48,350	$59,330	4,990	11.76	0.89
Protective Service	$47,480	$51,340	8,700	20.48	0.84
Production	$45,600	$47,750	31,480	74.15	1.35
Office and Administrative Support	$44,360	$47,690	54,140	127.52	1.12
Transportation and Material Moving	$39,460	$44,600	41,230	97.10	1.10
Healthcare Support	$36,920	$38,500	15,050	35.44	0.70
Sales and Related	$35,120	$46,180	36,000	84.80	0.98
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$34,990	$36,010	14,410	33.94	1.16
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$33,680	$36,960	360	0.85	0.30
Personal Care and Service	$32,150	$35,960	7,580	17.86	0.85
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$29,030	$31,840	41,330	97.34	1.11

Every occupation in Tennessee, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 536 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Knoxville, TN estimates (area 28940).

*: Wage estimate not available.
**: Employment estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Knoxville, TN area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.