How much do construction laborers make in Tennessee in 2026?

The median construction laborer in Tennessee earns $45,000 a year, which works out to roughly $21.63 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the middle of the pack — half of laborers in the state earn more, half earn less. It's a useful anchor when you're sizing up a job offer or deciding whether to push for more.

The bottom quarter of earners — workers just getting started, filling lower-demand roles, or working in slower rural markets — come in at $37,670 a year, or about $18.11 an hour. The top quarter clears $49,450 a year, roughly $23.77 an hour. That $11,780 spread between the 25th and 75th percentile tells you there's real room to move up within this trade in Tennessee, and the gap isn't closed by luck — it's mostly closed by experience, task specialization, and location.

Tennessee's construction market is not uniform. The Nashville metro has been running high volumes of commercial, residential, and infrastructure work for several years. Laborers working in and around Nashville, Brentwood, or Murfreesboro tend to see wages closer to the upper end of the range because contractors there compete harder for bodies on the ground. The Knoxville and Chattanooga metros are also active, particularly in industrial and logistics construction. More rural counties in West Tennessee and along the Cumberland Plateau tend to track closer to the 25th percentile, with fewer large-scale projects pulling wages up.

What you do on the site matters too. A laborer who stays in the basic digging-and-hauling lane will generally stay near the median. Workers who pick up skills in concrete work, form setting, asphalt paving, demolition, or equipment operation start to command more. Hazmat certification — particularly asbestos abatement or lead remediation — can also bump pay meaningfully, since that work carries liability and not every laborer wants it. Mason tenders and pipe layers often land on the higher end of the laborer pay scale because the work requires tighter coordination and more specific knowledge.

Overtime is a real factor in annualized earnings for this trade. Many Tennessee construction laborers work 45 to 55 hours a week during peak season, which stretches from roughly March through November. Overtime at time-and-a-half can add several thousand dollars to your annual take-home compared to what the straight hourly rate implies. When you're evaluating an offer, ask about typical weekly hours, not just base pay.

There is no union scale reported for construction laborers in Tennessee through BLS OEWS data. That means most wage agreements in this state are negotiated directly between the worker and the employer, or set by the contractor's internal pay bands. This puts more weight on individual workers to know the market rate before they sit down to talk pay. If a contractor offers you $18 an hour and you know the 75th percentile is $23.77, you have a factual basis to push back.

Benefits vary widely in this trade. Some larger general contractors and specialty subcontractors offer health insurance, paid time off, and retirement contributions. Smaller residential contractors often pay a higher hourly rate but provide no benefits. When you're comparing two offers, factor in the cost of health coverage if it isn't provided — that can easily be worth $3,000 to $6,000 a year.

The BLS OEWS May 2025 data used here covers all employed construction laborers in Tennessee, including both full-time and part-time workers and across employer sizes. These figures represent wages and do not include overtime, bonuses, or non-cash benefits unless those are factored into the employer's reported figures. Use the numbers as a benchmark, not a guarantee — your actual pay depends on where in Tennessee you work, who you work for, and what you bring to the job.