Workers in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.19 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($57.60) and legal ($53.67). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.02), personal care and service ($15.01), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.19). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Chattanooga area included office and administrative support (13.4 percent), transportation and material moving (10.5 percent), and production (10.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.4 percent) and legal (0.5 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Chattanooga had 26,510 jobs in production, accounting for 10.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.53, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (5,750); welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,720); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,680); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,590). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were nuclear power reactor operators and power plant operators, with mean hourly wages of $57.31 and $42.85, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.59) and print binding and finishing workers ($14.68). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16860.htm.)

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 2.0 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, nuclear power reactor operators were employed at 15.4 times the national rate in Chattanooga, and extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers, at 12.7 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.0 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 & 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 580 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 are 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 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,700 establishments with a response rate of 64 percent.

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.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Chattanooga metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	26,510	1.8	21.53	44,790
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,680	1.5	31.77	66,080
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	150	0.3	20.76	43,180
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	300	3.0	22.35	46,480
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	5,750	2.2	20.07	41,740
Bakers	570	1.5	18.90	39,320
Butchers and meat cutters	170	0.7	17.45	36,300
Food batchmakers	300	1.0	20.33	42,280
Food processing workers, all other	(5)	(5)	22.01	45,790
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	410	3.8	19.16	39,840
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	5.4	17.88	37,190
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	610	2.0	18.43	38,330
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	170	1.3	18.99	39,500
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	21.62	44,980
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	2.5	20.80	43,260
Machinists	760	1.5	23.51	48,900
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	80	2.1	20.61	42,860
Foundry mold and coremakers	90	4.7	20.88	43,440
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	0.7	20.77	43,210
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	160	0.7	19.54	40,640
Tool and die makers	280	2.8	26.49	55,100
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,720	2.4	23.40	48,670
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	230	4.1	21.37	44,450
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	1.0	16.57	34,470
Prepress technicians and workers	80	1.9	21.36	44,420
Printing press operators	360	1.4	20.48	42,610
Print binding and finishing workers	120	1.7	14.68	30,530
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	320	1.0	13.59	28,260
Sewing machine operators	190	1.0	15.76	32,780
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	140	12.0	15.49	32,210
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	2.6	16.67	34,670
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	350	12.6	18.70	38,900
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	290	7.1	16.48	34,270
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	320	12.7	22.54	46,890
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	100	3.9	21.12	43,920
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	70	0.7	17.51	36,420
Nuclear power reactor operators	150	15.4	57.31	119,200
Power plant operators	90	1.6	42.85	89,130
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	210	1.0	22.90	47,640
Chemical plant and system operators	80	2.7	26.79	55,720
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	290	1.4	23.37	48,600
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	1.2	19.98	41,570
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	1.4	19.85	41,290
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	1.5	19.72	41,010
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	1.1	19.88	41,350
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	120	1.2	20.03	41,670
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	40	1.4	20.53	42,710
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,590	1.6	21.79	45,330
Dental laboratory technicians	60	1.0	21.73	45,200
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	440	0.7	19.92	41,440
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	60	3.4	18.58	38,640
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	22.79	47,410
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	190	0.6	22.78	47,390
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	30	0.6	29.88	62,150
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	130	1.9	19.15	39,820
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	580	3.5	22.20	46,170
Helpers--production workers	280	0.9	17.44	36,270
Production workers, all other	1,450	3.5	18.82	39,140
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16860.htm. (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.