Workers in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.21 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($61.95) and legal ($56.62). Lower paying occupational groups included food preparation and serving related ($14.86), personal care and service ($16.50), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.04). (See table A.)

Office and administrative support occupations accounted for 12.6 percent of Chattanooga area employment, followed by transportation and material moving occupations (10.4 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.4 percent); legal (0.5 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.0 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Chattanooga had 26,250 jobs in production, accounting for 9.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.45, compared to the national wage of $24.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (8,120); welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,850); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,730). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were power plant operators ($48.13) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($35.14). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.66); print binding and finishing workers ($16.21); and pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($16.50). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0016860/2025.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Chattanooga area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 9.79 times the national rate in Chattanooga, and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, at 2.57 times the U.S. average. Sewing machine operators had a location quotient of 0.99 in Chattanooga, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Georgia Department of Labor.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 530 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology is available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 66.2 percent based on establishments and 67.2 percent based on weighted sampled employment. Sample sizes and response rates by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan area are available on the Additional OEWS data sets page.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Catoosa County, GA; Dade County, GA; Walker County, GA; Hamilton County, TN; Marion County, TN; and Sequatchie County, TN.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Chattanooga metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	26,250	1.77	23.45	48,770
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,730	1.49	35.14	73,080
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	120	0.28	20.16	41,940
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	180	1.93	24.31	50,560
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	8,120	3.34	23.00	47,840
Bakers	790	1.94	18.57	38,630
Butchers and meat cutters	220	0.92	18.60	38,690
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	320	1.25	18.19	37,820
Food batchmakers	250	0.84	21.46	44,640
Food processing workers, all other	340	3.03	21.14	43,960
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	330	3.18	23.88	49,660
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	1.44	20.49	42,630
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	410	1.37	20.59	42,830
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	7.88	21.41	44,530
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	160	1.38	20.30	42,220
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	1.17	19.82	41,230
Machinists	730	1.48	26.13	54,340
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	60	2.05	22.44	46,660
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	0.47	23.94	49,800
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	20.01	41,620
Tool and die makers	260	2.59	30.46	63,350
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,850	2.57	24.96	51,920
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	2.75	22.50	46,810
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	1.57	24.98	51,960
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	1.96	16.08	33,450
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	70	2.53	17.79	37,010
Prepress technicians and workers	60	1.57	21.41	44,530
Printing press operators	380	1.51	20.04	41,690
Print binding and finishing workers	100	1.81	16.21	33,710
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	370	1.09	14.66	30,490
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	80	1.67	16.50	34,330
Sewing machine operators	180	0.99	17.59	36,580
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	220	9.79	19.73	41,030
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	510	13.46	20.22	42,060
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	200	8.95	23.10	48,050
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	150	6.39	21.01	43,700
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	100	0.74	21.03	43,740
Furniture finishers	40	1.55	18.64	38,760
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	50	0.64	20.12	41,840
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	70	0.66	17.70	36,820
Woodworkers, all other	30	3.50	18.21	37,880
Power plant operators	60	1.13	48.13	100,110
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	140	0.62	25.47	52,980
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	190	0.77	23.29	48,450
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	160	1.56	19.73	41,030
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.98	22.07	45,900
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	120	0.70	23.84	49,590
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.18	21.33	44,360
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	160	1.56	21.78	45,300
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	50	2.08	19.99	41,570
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,270	1.23	23.69	49,280
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	40	1.20	20.23	42,090
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	720	1.11	20.30	42,220
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	530	1.93	24.82	51,630
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	170	0.60	24.25	50,440
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	50	0.99	32.25	67,070
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	40	2.26	25.45	52,940
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	50	0.90	22.07	45,910
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	320	1.92	24.75	51,480
Helpers--production workers	430	1.51	20.13	41,860
Production workers, all other	1,580	3.64	21.11	43,920
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0016860/2025. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a 'year-round, full-time' hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data. (5) Estimate not released.