- The middle half earn between $18.11 and $23.78 an hour.
- Tennessee ranks 37th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Tennessee pays more than 6 of its 8 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 26,250 construction laborers on payrolls in Tennessee.
- At the state median wage, a contracting business needs to bill about $108.59 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Construction Laborer pay in Tennessee, bottom to top
Construction laborers do the site work on a crew: demolition, digging, hauling and cleanup, and helping the trades. Separate helper categories for specific trades are not included.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $16.79 | $34,910 | $16.87 |
| 25th percentile | $18.11 | $37,670 | $18.57 |
| Median | $21.64 | $45,000 | $22.66 |
| 75th percentile | $23.78 | $49,450 | $28.72 |
| 90th percentile | $28.84 | $59,990 | $37.54 |
| Average (mean) | $22.10 | $45,970 | $25.02 |
Pay is bunched up in Tennessee. The top tenth earn $28.84 an hour or more, about 1.7 times the $16.79 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.2 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
Both ends trail the national figures. The bottom tenth earn $0.08 an hour less than the bottom tenth nationally, and the top tenth $8.70 less than the national top tenth.
The average, $22.10, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Tennessee compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $45,000 in Tennessee against $47,120 nationally, $2,120 less.
In the state ranking, Tennessee sits 37th, between Delaware ($21.90) and Kansas ($21.56). The range runs from $17.74 in Alabama to $37.07 in Hawaii.
Against its neighboring states, Tennessee is in the middle: Kentucky and Missouri pay more, and Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia pay less.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Tennessee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | $21.64 | $45,000 | |
| Alabama | $17.74 | $36,900 | −$3.90 an hour |
| Arkansas | $18.09 | $37,630 | −$3.55 an hour |
| Georgia | $18.74 | $38,990 | −$2.90 an hour |
| Kentucky | $21.98 | $45,710 | +$0.34 an hour |
| Mississippi | $18.13 | $37,710 | −$3.51 an hour |
| Missouri | $27.28 | $56,730 | +$5.64 an hour |
| North Carolina | $21.50 | $44,720 | −$0.14 an hour |
| Virginia | $20.94 | $43,560 | −$0.70 an hour |
How many construction laborers work in Tennessee
About 26,250 construction laborers work on payrolls in Tennessee, 2.4% of the 1,096,780 nationwide, the 14th largest count among the states.
That is 8.0 of every 1,000 jobs in Tennessee, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a contracting business in Tennessee should charge
Say you run a contracting business in Tennessee and pay the state median of $21.64 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on its starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $21.64 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $48,455 |
| Break-even rate | ($48,455 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $92.30 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $92.30 ÷ 0.85 | $108.59 |
That is $108.59 per billable hour, 5 times the wage, and $1.79 less than the $110.38 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $23.78 in Tennessee, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $112.35.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $18.11, the rate only drops to $102.39.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-2061, construction laborers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: construction laborer salary by state.