Tennessee by the numbers
In Tennessee, the median worker earns $46,120 a year, the typical home is worth $256,800 and carries $1,400 of property tax, and the average household pays $162 a month for electricity at 14.47¢ per kilowatt-hour.
South TVA Regulated monopoly
Energy
Every electricity customer in Tennessee is ultimately supplied by the Tennessee Valley Authority. TVA is a federal corporation that generates power and sells it wholesale to local distributors, and its portfolio of a large nuclear fleet, the Tennessee River hydro system, gas and a shrinking coal fleet produces a low and remarkably stable wholesale price.
TVA is self-financing rather than shareholder-owned, so there is no return on equity in the price, and it is not rate-regulated by a state commission or by FERC in the way an investor-owned utility would be. Its board sets rates.
What varies within Tennessee is the local distributor's markup, which covers poles, wires, meters and local operations. That is why Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga bills differ despite an identical wholesale source.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Tennessee households used 1,199 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $162. At the state median wage that is about 7.3 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $2.62 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Tennessee worker earned $46,120 in 2024, 6.8% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Statistical Assistants | 8.04× | $51,150 |
| Entertainment Attendants and Related Workers, All Other | 6.73× | $29,460 |
| Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | 6.68× | $46,590 |
| Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers | 5.71× | $45,080 |
| Cooks, All Other | 5.41× | $35,350 |
Property tax
The median Tennessee homeowner pays $1,400 a year on a home worth $256,800, an effective rate of 0.55% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 95 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Tennessee run at 91.9 where the national average is 100, ranking it #38 of 51. Goods sit at 96.2, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 79.1, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $46,120 therefore buys what $50,185 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin (96.3) , Knoxville (92.6) , Memphis (92.2) , Chattanooga (91.5) , Clarksville (90.9) .
Housing
House prices in Tennessee rose 0.9% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +118.8%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Knoxville (+1.6%) , Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin (-0.2%) , Memphis (-0.7%) .
Who supplies the power
83 utilities report residential service in Tennessee, together serving 3.2 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Tennessee: common questions
What does it cost to live in Tennessee?
Prices overall run at 91.9 against a national average of 100, with rents at 79.1. The typical home is worth $256,800 and carries $1,400 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.55% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $162 a month at 14.47¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $46,120.
What is the property tax rate in Tennessee?
The effective rate is 0.55% of home value, from a median bill of $1,400. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 95 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Tennessee?
The median wage of $46,120 buys what $50,185 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Tennessee falls on.
Is Tennessee expensive for electricity?
It ranks #40 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 14.47¢ per kilowatt-hour, -21.5% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 17 of 51, because households there use 1,199 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Tennessee?
$46,120 across all occupations, about $22.18 an hour, covering 3,274,390 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Tennessee?
83 utilities report residential service, the largest being Nashville Electric Service with 417,640 customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources