Tennessee·Office and Administrative Support Occupations·SOC 43-6013

Best Medical Secretary programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment

Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures.

4 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 117 people a year. The job pays a median of $39,940 in Tennessee across about 41,810 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledUnit ClerkMedical SecretaryMedical ReceptionistUnit Support RepresentativeSchedulerSecretaryWard ClerkWard Secretary
Graduates / yr
117
in Tennessee
Median pay · Tennessee
$39,940
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
41,810
people employed
Schools
4
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
50%
across those schools
Median net price
$29,040
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.

2 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 51.0710In Tennessee
111
94.9%
3$30,774$17,375
2
CIP 51.0714In Tennessee
6
5.1%
1$30,774$17,375

Top 4 schools in Tennessee

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 4 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Concorde Career College - Memphis
Memphis, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
87Medical Office Assistant/Specialist$25,08855%$23,74095%
2Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Knoxville
Knoxville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
21Medical Office Assistant/Specialist$25,30971%
3Chattanooga State Community College
Chattanooga, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
6Medical Insurance Specialist/Medical Biller$36,20426%
4Remington College - Nashville Campus
Nashville, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Medical Office Assistant/Specialist$21,68647%$29,040

All 4 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
Concorde Career College - MemphisMemphisPrivate for-profit871
Tennessee College of Applied Technology - KnoxvilleKnoxvillePublic211
Chattanooga State Community CollegeChattanoogaPublic61
Remington College - Nashville CampusNashvillePrivate not-for-profit31

What medical secretaries and administrative assistants earn in Tennessee

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

Median annual in Tennessee
$39,940
Mean annual
$42,870
Jobs in state
41,810
What the range looks like
10th pct$31,960Median$39,94090th pct$57,670
Versus the national median
-13.0%

U.S. median $45,930. Tennessee pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
2.06×

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

Metro areas in Tennessee

Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
$45,570median
12,970 jobs
Memphis, TN-MS-AR
$39,940median
7,180 jobs
Knoxville, TN
$38,420median
6,280 jobs
Chattanooga, TN-GA
$38,640median
3,590 jobs
Jackson, TN
$38,100median
1,080 jobs
Cleveland, TN
$38,580median
510 jobs
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA
$36,800median
1,600 jobs
Clarksville, TN-KY
$37,380median
1,130 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.2%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
85,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
35,300
850,000 → 885,300
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
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 Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants page.

How to become a Medical Secretary

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

SpeakingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingWritingMonitoring

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 7 majors mapped to Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 01.8201Veterinary Administrative Services, General
  • 01.8204Veterinary Administrative/Executive Assistant and Veterinary Secretary
  • 51.0710Medical Office Assistant/Specialist
  • 51.0711Medical/Health Management and Clinical Assistant/Specialist
  • 51.0712Medical Reception/Receptionist
  • 51.0714Medical Insurance Specialist/Medical Biller
  • 51.0716Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary

Common questions

Answers for people weighing medical secretaries and administrative assistants programs in Tennessee.

What degree do you need to become a Medical Secretary?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Medical Office Assistant/Specialist, which awarded 111 degrees in Tennessee in 2024-25, 94.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Medical Secretary?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Health and Medical Administrative Services. Together they graduate about 117 people a year in Tennessee.

How much do medical secretaries and administrative assistants earn in Tennessee?+

The median is $39,940 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 13.0% below the U.S. median of $45,930. 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 medical secretaries and administrative assistants growing?+

BLS projects a +4.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 85,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

4 institutions in Tennessee reported graduates from at least one of the 2 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 medical secretaries and administrative assistants work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Unit Clerk, Medical Secretary, Medical Receptionist, Unit Support Representative among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 43-6013.

Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in other statesFloridaCaliforniaKentuckyIndianaColoradoNew YorkOhioWyoming

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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