Insurance sales agents job market in Tennessee

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Tennessee industry employment changed 0.5 percentage points above the U.S. benchmark

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Insurance sales agents in Tennessee.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 100% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Insurance sales agents earn in Tennessee

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$57,120Tennessee
Middle 50% of published wages
$44,710 – $77,360
U.S. median annual wage
$62,280
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Tennessee

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Insurance sales agents, compared with the Tennessee median of $57,120.

Tennessee median$57,120
Knoxville, TN$65,060+13.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$46,480 – $124,470Published employment940
Jackson, TN$64,310+12.6% vs. state
Middle 50%$45,150 – $94,100Published employment190
Johnson City, TN$63,400+11.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$46,200 – $63,400Published employment120
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN$57,140Same as state at displayed precision
Middle 50%$48,030 – $79,010Published employment2,680
Chattanooga, TN-GA$54,940−3.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$47,880 – $75,280Published employment790
Memphis, TN-MS-AR$51,570−9.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$41,150 – $79,200Published employment1,130
View 3 more published metro areas
Cleveland, TN$51,120−10.5% vs. state
Middle 50%$44,230 – $69,320Published employment80
Clarksville, TN-KY$49,550−13.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$38,740 – $66,630Published employment180
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA$46,830−18.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$36,620 – $62,020Published employment210

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Tennessee median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Tennessee’s weighted industry mix.

+0.8%Industry employmentTennessee industry employmentU.S. +0.3%vs. +0.3% U.S.
+8.3%Establishments in weighted industriesTennessee establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +2.1%vs. +2.1% U.S.
+7.5%Avg. weekly industry wageTennessee avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +7.9% · not occupation payvs. +7.9% U.S. · not occupation pay
+0.5 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 22,784 represented establishments, 97.73% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for insurance sales agents in Tennessee

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.

The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market

The largest metro employment market in this Tennessee comparison is Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN, with 2,680 estimated jobs and median annual pay of $57,140 in OEWS May 2025. Knoxville, TN has the highest median pay, $65,060, alongside an employment estimate of 940. Among 9 metros with both usable measures, its median pay is 13.9% higher than the largest market's. The employment estimates describe existing jobs, not available vacancies.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Some metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.

This occupation is less concentrated in the state

Insurance sales agents account for 0.75 times their national share of employment in Tennessee, according to OEWS May 2025. This is the published location quotient. The state estimate is 7,610 jobs, 1.6% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 2.32 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Concentration describes employment share, not current hiring or future growth.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

OEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.

Financial activities has the largest positive weighted contribution

Among the leading industry groups associated with this occupation in Tennessee, Financial activities has the largest positive weighted contribution in January to March 2026. It accounts for 97.1% of the positive weighted contributions, and its own employment changed +0.8% year over year. The proxy uses each group's share of the occupation's national industry mix; the groups examined cover 99.4% of that mix. Weighted contributions do not count occupation jobs created.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Published median pay is below the U.S. median

Median annual pay in Tennessee stands 8.3% below the U.S. estimate for insurance sales agents. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $57,120 for the state and $62,280 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Tennessee · 2026 Q1+0.8%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.3%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Tennessee industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterTennesseeCoverage
2024 Q2+0.3%100%
2024 Q3+0.1%100%
2024 Q4+0.1%100%
2025 Q1+1.9%100%
2025 Q2+1.2%100%
2025 Q3+1.3%100%
2025 Q4+2.4%100%
2026 Q1+0.8%100%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Tennessee’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
+0.3%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Insurance sales agents Work

The occupation mix determines which Tennessee industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Tennessee Insurance sales agents context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Financial activities97.2%+0.8%22,784$2,507
Professional and business services2.0%+1.1%47,308$1,913
State and local0.2%-0.5%3,244$1,207
Private education and health services0.1%+2.0%27,844$1,341
Other services0.0%-5.4%14,707$1,058
Construction0.0%+1.9%17,751$1,524

Which industries are growing?

4 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Tennessee employment change are listed.

  • Private education and health services+2.0%
  • Construction+1.9%
  • Professional and business services+1.1%
  • Financial activities+0.8%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current Tennessee context

Current Tennessee Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Tennessee. They are not Insurance sales agents demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Tennessee

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

117.2Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+17.2%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+1.1%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 2026113.18
Jul 31, 2026113.24
Aug 7, 2026113.09
Aug 14, 2026112.37
Aug 21, 2026112.57
Aug 28, 2026113.47
Sep 4, 2026114.61
Sep 11, 2026115.58
Sep 18, 2026115.42
Sep 25, 2026115.83
Oct 2, 2026116.12
Oct 9, 2026117.31
Oct 16, 2026116.86
Oct 23, 2026117.16

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Statewide layoff-notice filings

Tennessee statewide

9 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 4, 2026 to Nov 1, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Tennessee’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Tennessee’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.

Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development About WARN data

Source last checked

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Insurance sales agents in Tennessee FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Insurance sales agents in Tennessee?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Tennessee industries weighted to Insurance sales agents changed +0.8% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.3% nationwide.

Are wages for Insurance sales agents rising in Tennessee?

QCEW does not publish pay for Insurance sales agents in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +7.5% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Tennessee industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Insurance sales agents openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Insurance sales agents
SOC code
41-3021
State
Tennessee
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
+0.8%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
+0.3%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
+0.5 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+8.3%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+7.5%State data coverage 100%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/insurance-sales-agents/tennessee#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Insurance sales agents in other states