Shelby County · Tennessee
Memphis, TN jobs and wages
Who works here, what they earn, and which industries carry the local economy — Census ACS estimates for the city itself, not the wider metro.
Quick answer
Workers in Memphis, TN earn a median of $36,624 a year, 18% below the national median of $44,587. Unemployment is 8.3% against 5.2% nationally, and education, health care & social assistance is the largest employer at 22% of jobs.
- Median earnings
- $36,624#79 of 94 metros
- Unemployment rate
- 8.3%US 5.2%
- Labor force participation
- 63.9%US 63.5%
- People employed
- 285,097Civilian employed, age 16+
What Memphis does for a living
Share of the civilian employed population by industry, largest first.
- Education, health care & social assistance22%
- Transportation, warehousing & utilities14.6%
- Professional, scientific & management11%
- Retail trade10.4%
- Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation & food9.3%
- Manufacturing9%
- Construction5.4%
- Finance, insurance & real estate5.1%
- Other services, except public administration4.9%
- Public administration4.3%
- Wholesale trade2.5%
- Information1.3%
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting & mining0.2%
Related data for Memphis
Earnings only mean something next to what things cost.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates
Tables B23025, B20002 and C24030, 2019-2023 ACS 5-year. Industry shares combine the male and female columns of C24030 and are rounded, so they may not total exactly 100%.