Tennessee·Office and Administrative Support Occupations·SOC 43-3031

Best Bookkeeping programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment

Compute, classify, and record numerical data to keep financial records complete. Perform any combination of routine calculating, posting, and verifying duties to obtain primary financial data for use in maintaining accounting records.

6 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 94 people a year. The job pays a median of $48,180 in Tennessee across about 37,680 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAccount ClerkAccounting ClerkAccounting AssistantAccounts Payables ClerkClipmanBond ClerkBookkeeperClassifier
Graduates / yr
94
in Tennessee
Median pay · Tennessee
$48,180
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
37,680
people employed
Schools
6
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
24%
across those schools
Median net price
$20,346
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Tennessee that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in Tennessee that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Tennessee (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Tennessee page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 52.0302In Tennessee
94
100.0%
6$51,824$24,433

Top 6 schools in Tennessee

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 6 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Pellissippi State Community College
Knoxville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
31Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping31%
2Nashville State Community College
Nashville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
20Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping18%
3South College
Knoxville, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
16Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping42%$20,346
4Strayer University - Tennessee
Nashville, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
11Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping$52,3730%$18,466
5Southwest Tennessee Community College
Memphis, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
10Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping19%
6Northeast State Community College
Blountville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
6Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping33%

All 6 schools in Tennessee

Every school in Tennessee with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Tennessee that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Pellissippi State Community CollegeKnoxvillePublic311
Nashville State Community CollegeNashvillePublic201
South CollegeKnoxvillePrivate for-profit161
Strayer University - TennesseeNashvillePrivate for-profit111
Southwest Tennessee Community CollegeMemphisPublic101
Northeast State Community CollegeBlountvillePublic61

What bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks earn in Tennessee

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Tennessee
$48,180
Mean annual
$50,230
Jobs in state
37,680
What the range looks like
10th pct$35,000Median$48,18090th pct$67,730
Versus the national median
-4.9%

U.S. median $50,670. Tennessee pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.30×

Concentrated here: Tennessee employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Tennessee

Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
$50,810median
13,790 jobs
Memphis, TN-MS-AR
$48,400median
6,320 jobs
Knoxville, TN
$47,320median
4,510 jobs
Chattanooga, TN-GA
$46,920median
2,920 jobs
Clarksville, TN-KY
$46,280median
1,000 jobs
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA
$45,670median
1,170 jobs
Jackson, TN
$45,240median
800 jobs
Morristown, TN
$44,040median
420 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-5.8%
Decline
Openings per year
170,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-94,300
1,613,400 → 1,519,100
Typical entry education
Some college, no degree
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks page.

How to become a Bookkeeping

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
Some college, no degree
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

MathematicsReading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingWritingSpeaking

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Tennessee

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 52.0302Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping

Common questions

Answers for people weighing bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks programs in Tennessee.

What degree do you need to become a Bookkeeping?+

Some college, no degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping, which awarded 94 degrees in Tennessee in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Bookkeeping?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Accounting and Related Services. Together they graduate about 94 people a year in Tennessee.

How much do bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks earn in Tennessee?+

The median is $48,180 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 4.9% below the U.S. median of $50,670. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks growing?+

BLS projects a -5.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 170,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Tennessee?+

6 institutions in Tennessee reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Account Clerk, Accounting Clerk, Accounting Assistant, Accounts Payables Clerk among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 43-3031.

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in other statesCaliforniaFloridaGeorgiaWashingtonIndianaNew YorkWisconsinTexas

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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