Top 25 highest-paid Tennessee jobs you can get with a high school diploma
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Got a high school diploma? You might be surprised at how much pay you can earn in Tennessee without any further education.
According to a 2023 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, the education level of 31% of Tennesseans age 25 and older is a high school diploma or its equivalent. While college-going rates have slowly grown in recent years in Tennessee, they are still markedly lower than they were a decade ago. In 2015, Tennessee’s college-going rate was at 64.4%. As of 2023, that rate was at 56.7%.
A recent Pew Research Center survey showed that only one in four adults in the U.S. believe it is “extremely important” or “very important” to have a four-year college degree to get a well-paying job in the current economy. Around 35% said it is “somewhat important,” while 40% said it’s “not too important” or “not at all important.”
While some of Tennessee’s best-paid jobs that don’t require a college degree rival the salaries of other lucrative industries, many likely require extra training and years of experience.
With that in mind, here’s a look at Tennessee’s Top 25 highest paying jobs that only require a high school diploma or its equivalent, based on 2023 annual median income calculated by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
- Nuclear power reactor operators: $106,496
- Power plant operators: $103,730
- Power distributors and dispatchers: $99,894
- Postmasters and mail superintendents: $91,790
- Transportation, storage and distribution managers: $91,378
- Explosives workers, ordnance handling experts and blasters: $87,342
- Elevator and escalator installers and repairers: $82,860
- Farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers: $81,275
- First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers: $80,268
- Electrical power-line installers and repairers: $79,078
- Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators and gaugers: $77,652
- Transportation inspectors: $76,227
- Boilermakers: $76,146
- Signal and track switch repairers: $75,902
- Locomotive engineers: $72,342
- Aircraft cargo handling supervisors: $70,693
- First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers and repairers: $69,992
- First-line supervisors of police and detectives: $69,181
- First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers: $66,972
- Detectives and criminal investigators: $64,700
- Chemical plant and system operators: $64,693
- Claims adjusters, examiners and investigators: $64,526
- First-line supervisors of correctional officers: $64,306
- Gas plant operators: $63,526
- First-line supervisors of protective service workers: $63,484
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