- The middle half earn between $39.77 and $71.10 an hour.
- Tennessee ranks 25th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Tennessee pays more than 5 of its 8 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 5,860 general contractors on payrolls in Tennessee.
- At the state median wage, a general contracting business needs to bill about $163.63 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
General Contractor pay in Tennessee, bottom to top
BLS has no separate wage figure for general contractors. These are its numbers for construction managers, the group BLS files general contractors under. They count managers on a payroll, so owners who run their own contracting business are not in them.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $31.63 | $65,780 | $33.50 |
| 25th percentile | $39.77 | $82,720 | $42.57 |
| Median | $52.98 | $110,200 | $55.28 |
| 75th percentile | $71.10 | $147,900 | $72.91 |
| 90th percentile | $88.11 | $183,270 | $91.08 |
| Average (mean) | $58.78 | $122,250 | $59.79 |
From the bottom tenth ($31.63) to the top tenth ($88.11), the top of the scale pays about 2.8 times the bottom in Tennessee, close to the 2.7 times spread for general contractors nationwide.
Both ends trail the national figures. The bottom tenth earn $1.87 an hour less than the bottom tenth nationally, and the top tenth $2.97 less than the national top tenth.
The average wage, $58.78, sits 11% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical general contractor makes.
How Tennessee compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $110,200 in Tennessee against $114,990 nationally, $4,790 less.
In the state ranking, Tennessee sits 25th, between Georgia ($53.27) and Maine ($52.92). The range runs from $41.50 in Arkansas to $74.69 in New York.
Against its neighboring states, Tennessee is in the middle: Georgia, Missouri and Virginia pay more, and Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and North Carolina pay less.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Tennessee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | $52.98 | $110,200 | |
| Alabama | $46.61 | $96,960 | −$6.37 an hour |
| Arkansas | $41.50 | $86,310 | −$11.48 an hour |
| Georgia | $53.27 | $110,810 | +$0.29 an hour |
| Kentucky | $46.64 | $97,020 | −$6.34 an hour |
| Mississippi | $47.85 | $99,520 | −$5.13 an hour |
| Missouri | $53.96 | $112,230 | +$0.98 an hour |
| North Carolina | $51.27 | $106,640 | −$1.71 an hour |
| Virginia | $57.26 | $119,110 | +$4.28 an hour |
How many general contractors work in Tennessee
About 5,860 general contractors work on payrolls in Tennessee, 1.5% of the 380,360 nationwide, the 19th largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 1.8 per 1,000 jobs, 0.73 times the national share.
What a general contracting business in Tennessee should charge
Say you run a general contracting business in Tennessee and pay the state median of $52.98 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 | $52.98 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $118,629 |
| Break-even rate | ($118,629 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $139.09 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $139.09 ÷ 0.85 | $163.63 |
That is $163.63 per billable hour, 3.1 times the wage, and $4.04 less than the $167.67 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $71.10 in Tennessee, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $195.45.
At this wage the pay itself is the biggest part of the price, so every raise shows up in the rate: a dollar more an hour adds about $1.76 per billed hour.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a general contractor in Tennessee
- Licensing. What Tennessee asks for before you can work on your own: General contractor license in Tennessee.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how general contractors run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
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 11-9021, construction managers, 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: general contractor salary by state.