How much do electricians make in Tennessee in 2026?

The median electrician salary in Tennessee is $61,090 per year, which works out to $29.37 per hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the midpoint — half of all electricians in the state earn more, half earn less. If you're just starting out or still working toward your journeyman card, you're more likely sitting closer to the 25th percentile at $48,380 a year ($23.26/hr). Experienced journeymen and working foremen with years on the tools push into the 75th percentile at $76,060 annually ($36.57/hr).

Those three numbers — $48,380, $61,090, and $76,060 — tell you most of what you need to know about the spread in this trade in Tennessee. The gap between the bottom quarter and the top quarter is nearly $28,000 a year. That's not small. It reflects the difference between a first- or second-year apprentice who just punched in, and a seasoned electrician running crews, pulling permits, and handling complex commercial or industrial work.

Tennessee's construction market is active across multiple metros. Nashville and its surrounding counties have seen heavy commercial and infrastructure build-out, which tends to push local wages above what you'll find in more rural parts of the state. Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga each have their own commercial and industrial bases that support steady electrician demand. If you're in a smaller market — say, a rural county in East or West Tennessee — expect pay to run closer to or below the median. Willingness to travel to a busier metro, or to take overnight work on industrial shutdowns, can close that gap fast.

Overtime is a real factor in electrician earnings. The BLS figures here are base wage data and do not capture overtime, per diem, tool allowances, or employer-paid benefits like health insurance and retirement contributions. An electrician working 50- or 55-hour weeks during a busy commercial push will bring home considerably more than the annual figures suggest. On the flip side, if your shop slows down in winter or between project phases, your actual annual earnings can dip below those numbers too.

Licensing matters in Tennessee. The state requires electricians to be licensed, and the path from apprentice to journeyman to master takes both hours in the field and passing state exams. Getting your master electrician license opens the door to running your own shop, pulling your own permits, and billing at rates that don't show up anywhere in the wage distribution for employees — those workers are often self-employed contractors counted differently in BLS data, if at all.

Specialty work also shifts pay. Electricians who cross-train in industrial controls, low-voltage systems, solar installation, or data center work can command rates above the 75th percentile. The BLS OEWS data lumps most electricians together, so those specialty premiums are buried in the upper end of the range rather than broken out separately.

Some electricians in Tennessee work under collective bargaining agreements. If you're covered by a union contract, your pay and benefits are set by that agreement — check directly with your local for the current scale. The BLS data above covers all electricians regardless of union status.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025.