Statewide pay Government data
Pest control technicians in Tennessee earn a statewide median of $39,690 a year, 11% below the typical U.S. metro, ranking #39 of 50 states. About 3,340 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Tennessee
See all states on the pest control technicians nationwide.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes pest control technician pay for 8 Tennessee metros. The highest-paying is Nashville at $44,350, followed by Knoxville and Clarksville.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| NashvilleTENNESSEE · TN | $44,350 | $46,036 | 1,050 |
| KnoxvilleTENNESSEE · TN | $41,710 | $45,058 | 460 |
| ClarksvilleTENNESSEE · TN | $40,150 | $44,147 | 130 |
| MemphisTENNESSEE · TN | $39,860 | $43,242 | 650 |
| ChattanoogaTENNESSEE · TN | $38,410 | $41,995 | 280 |
| JacksonTENNESSEE · TN | $38,410 | $44,912 | 100 |
| KingsportTENNESSEE · TN | $38,110 | $44,085 | 70 |
| Johnson CityTENNESSEE · TN | $36,190 | $41,159 | 90 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
Pay outside the cities Government data
BLS also reports pay for Tennessee's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Apply or release chemical solutions or toxic gases and set traps to kill or remove pests and vermin that infest buildings and surrounding areas.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,700 openings a year. Typical training: moderate-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, pest control technicians have 150 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 1.7× the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is falls, slips and trips.
What the work is like Government data
How often pest control technicians deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes some preparation (high school plus months of training).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
Tennessee runs its own workplace-safety program (an OSHA State Plan), so its injury reports aren't in the federal dataset. Nationally, in states federal OSHA covers, pest control companies filed 132 severe injury reports from 2015 to 2024; the most common cause was falls, slips and trips (55%).
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Fatality investigations: OSHA Fatality Inspection Data, events 2015–2024, all states.
Licensing in Tennessee Official source
The main state licensing office in Tennessee is the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors. It can point you to the right license for pest control technicians.
Official Tennessee licensing site ↗
Requirements for pest control technicians vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 4.8% of wage and salary workers in Tennessee were union members, below the U.S. rate of about 10% (#42 of 51 states and D.C.), and 5.7% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only pest control technicians.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in Tennessee
All trades in Tennessee.