Tennessee · NAICS 517 · Annual, 2025

Telecommunications in Tennessee

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 517 in Tennessee, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Telecommunications (NAICS 517) employed about 8,860 people in Tennessee across roughly 671 establishments, with average annual pay of $96,270.

Employment in Telecommunications in Tennessee declined 17.8% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 36.8% above the all-industries average in Tennessee. Employment fell 49.7% from 2008 to 2025. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Tennessee are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 8,860Employment, 2025
  • 671Establishments
  • $96,270Avg. annual pay
  • 0.3%Share of Tennessee jobs
  • 0.71Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Telecommunications in Tennessee, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 17,000 to 8,860.05K10K15K20K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 17,000; 2005 16,600; 2006 17,200; 2007 17,500; 2008 17,600; 2009 17,300; 2010 15,300; 2011 14,700; 2012 14,000; 2013 14,500; 2014 14,900; 2015 14,700; 2016 14,000; 2017 13,700; 2018 12,800; 2019 11,200; 2020 10,800; 2021 10,300; 2022 10,000; 2023 9,860; 2024 9,120; 2025 8,860.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
20258,860671$96,266 2.9%pub.
20249,120720$89,295 7.5%pub.
20239,862720$86,706 1.8%pub.
202210,042685$83,084 2.3%pub.
202110,277637$77,127 4.7%est. · 1.00
202010,779619$75,633 3.7%est. · 1.00
201911,198594$74,554 12.3%est. · 1.00
201812,763569$67,465 6.8%est. · 1.00
201713,689573$64,819 2.1%est. · 1.00
201613,980582$63,318 4.9%est. · 1.00

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.

How this figure was built

Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.

Estimated by Data Tactical Group from BLS QCEW, with CES/SAE and projection inputs described in the methodology. Method: Disclosure, Industry.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Telecommunications in Tennessee, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for telecommunications in Tennessee. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.