Kennel Attendant Salary in Tennessee

Tennessee trails the national figures at every percentile, but not by the same amount.

The gap is narrowest at the 25th percentile, $28,110 against $29,820 — $1,710, or 6%, below — and widest at the median, $30,550 against $35,360, a $4,810 or 14% shortfall.

From the median upward it narrows again in both dollar and percentage terms: $3,880, or 10%, below at the 75th percentile and $3,040, or 6%, below at the 90th.

The 10th percentile, $23,980, sits $3,270, or 12%, below the national $27,250 — a larger proportional gap than the 75th percentile's, though a smaller one in dollars.

An offer near the middle of this distribution falls further below the comparable national figure than one near either end.

Half of the Tennessee workers counted earned between $28,110 and $36,170 — a band $8,060 wide, against $10,230 nationally, and narrower relative to the state's median too.

The full span from the 10th to the 90th percentile, $23,040, is essentially level with the national $22,810.

The four quarters explain why: the bottom quarter runs wider, $4,130 against $2,570; the stretch from the 25th percentile to the median is much tighter, $2,440 against $5,540; the median-to-75th stretch runs wider, $5,620 against $4,690; and the top quarter runs slightly wider, $10,850 against $10,010.

That one tight stretch pulls the median down inside the band: it sits $2,440 above the 25th percentile and $5,620 below the 75th, the reverse of the national shape, where the median sits close to the middle.

OEWS does not publish why a distribution has this shape, and this row spans every industry, so this page does not assign it a cause.

The Tennessee hourly median is $14.69, against $17.00 nationally — a 14% gap, matching the annual median.

The data set carries hourly pay at the median only, so it is the figure to hold an hourly posting against.

Before comparing a posted rate with the annual percentiles, ask how many hours a week the role is scheduled.

BLS estimates 6,110 animal caretakers were employed in Tennessee across all industries, 18th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate — a headcount rank well ahead of the state's 35th-place median-wage rank.

The estimate is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period, not a count of openings, and BLS publishes no state count of how many of them work in veterinary settings.

In the same release, veterinary technologists and technicians in Tennessee have a median of $42,810 — $12,260, or 40%, more than the all-industry animal caretaker median on this page, and $20.58 an hour against $14.69.

The comparison sets a veterinary occupation against one that spans all industries, so it is context for someone weighing a move into technician work, not a measure of what kennel-attendant work pays.