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Careers with Largest Employment

These are the occupations that employed the most people in 2016 (for states) or 2019 (nationally). You can view this list for any state by changing the location shown to the left.

We found 690 occupations in Tennessee.

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Rank	Occupation	2016 Employment	Earnings	Typical Education
Rank	Occupation	2016 Employment	Earnings	Typical Education	1	Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	97,520	No formal educational credential
2	Retail salespersons	95,350		No formal educational credential
3	Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food	74,890		No formal educational credential
4	Cashiers	72,750		No formal educational credential
5	Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	63,990		Postsecondary non-degree award
6	Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	60,630		High school diploma or equivalent
7	Customer service representatives	59,760		High school diploma or equivalent
8	Registered nurses	58,250		Bachelor's degree
9	Office clerks, general	56,260		High school diploma or equivalent
10	Stock clerks and order fillers	53,870		High school diploma or equivalent
11	Waiters and waitresses	51,330		No formal educational credential
12	General and operations managers	45,590		Bachelor's degree
13	Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners	42,030		No formal educational credential
14	First-line supervisors of retail sales workers	38,930		High school diploma or equivalent
15	First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	35,420		High school diploma or equivalent
16	Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	33,790		Some college, no degree
17	Maids and housekeeping cleaners	32,470		No formal educational credential
18	Nursing assistants	31,360		Postsecondary non-degree award
19	Maintenance and repair workers, general	31,310		High school diploma or equivalent
20	Elementary school teachers, except special education	29,390		Bachelor's degree
21	Construction laborers	23,940		No formal educational credential
22	Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	23,900		Postsecondary non-degree award
23	Security guards	23,780		High school diploma or equivalent
24	Childcare workers	22,670		High school diploma or equivalent
25	Teacher assistants	22,490		Some college, no degree
26	Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products	21,970		High school diploma or equivalent
27	Cooks, restaurant	21,920		No formal educational credential
28	Helpers--production workers	21,030		High school diploma or equivalent
29	Light truck or delivery services drivers	20,690		High school diploma or equivalent
30	Personal care aides	20,200		High school diploma or equivalent
31	Managers, all other	18,660		Bachelor's degree
32	Packers and packagers, hand	18,600		No formal educational credential
33	Accountants and auditors	18,590		Bachelor's degree
34	Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	18,590		Bachelor's degree
35	Receptionists and information clerks	18,260		High school diploma or equivalent
36	First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers	17,810		High school diploma or equivalent
37	Industrial truck and tractor operators	17,780		No formal educational credential
38	Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	17,550		High school diploma or equivalent
39	Landscaping and groundskeeping workers	17,460		No formal educational credential
40	Food preparation workers	17,030		No formal educational credential
41	Sales representatives, services, all other	16,870		High school diploma or equivalent
42	First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	16,700		High school diploma or equivalent
43	Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers	16,400		High school diploma or equivalent
44	Automotive service technicians and mechanics	15,440		Postsecondary non-degree award
45	Food service managers	14,870		High school diploma or equivalent
46	Cooks, fast food	14,540		No formal educational credential
47	Financial managers	14,490		Bachelor's degree
48	Medical assistants	14,460		Postsecondary non-degree award
49	Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	13,780		High school diploma or equivalent
50	Business operations specialists, all other	13,690		Bachelor's degree

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Typical Education

High school diploma or equivalent (275)
Bachelor's degree (150)
Master's degree or higher (91)
Some high school (87)
Some college (44)
Associate's degree (43)

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About this data

Data for this report come from the U.S. Department of Labor.

State-level employment data come from Projections Central and each state's Labor Market Information office, and reflect the years 2016 to 2026.

National employment data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2019-29.

Earnings data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) May 2019 survey.

Typical education data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, Education and training assignments by detailed occupation, 2019.

Learn more about these reports at the Help page below.

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