Salary Range

• Nearly 62,000 RNs were employed in Tennessee in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Tennessee RNs had an average salary of $28.62 per hour, or $59,520 per year. The middle 50 percent of Tennessee RNs had pay rates of $22.68 to $31.70 per hour, or $47,170 to $65,940 per year. The bottom 10 percent were earning $41,030 and less, and the top 10 percent $81,430 and higher.
  
  

High-Paying Areas

• The BLS lists three areas in Tennessee as having higher than average salaries for RNs than the statewide average. The highest-paying region was the greater Memphis area, with an average salary for RNs of $63,210 per year in 2009. RNs in the greater Nashville region, including Davidson, Franklin and Murfreesboro, were earning $63,100 per year on average. RNs working in the western nonmetropolitan area of Tennessee had an average salary of
  
  $59,720 per year.
  
  

Other Areas

• The lowest-paying region for RNs in Tennessee was the eastern nonmetropolitan area, with an average salary of $24.92 per hour, or $51,830 per year. RNs in Jackson were making $52,230 on average per year, and in the Kingsport-Bristol area $53,450. RNs in other Tennessee metropolitan areas such as Chattanooga, Clarksville, Knoxville and Morristown had average yearly salaries in the range of about $54,200 to $57,900.
  
  

Similar Salaries

• Several other states have similar average salaries for RNs as the Tennessee average of $59,520 per year. They include North Carolina, where the average annual salary for RNs was $58,880 in 2009, Utah at $59,370, South Carolina at $59,680, Ohio at $59,740 and Louisiana at $60,290.