Tennessee·Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations·SOC 29-1151

Best Nurse Anesthetist programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment

Administer anesthesia, monitor patient's vital signs, and oversee patient recovery from anesthesia. May assist anesthesiologists, surgeons, other physicians, or dentists.

4 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 151 people a year. The job pays a median of $211,450 in Tennessee across about 1,690 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledNurse AnesthetistStaff Nurse AnesthetistCertified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)Staff Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (Staff CRNA)Anesthesia PhysicianAnesthesia SpecialistCertified Nurse Anesthetist
Graduates / yr
151
in Tennessee
Median pay · Tennessee
$211,450
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
1,690
people employed
Schools
4
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
53%
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 51.3804In Tennessee
151
100.0%
4$71,623$25,750

Top 4 schools in Tennessee

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 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
1Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc
Madison, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
88Nurse Anesthetist
2South College
Knoxville, TN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
34Nurse Anesthetist$65,10942%$20,346
3Union University
Jackson, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
26Nurse Anesthetist$68,39966%$25,88260%
4Lincoln Memorial University
Harrogate, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Nurse Anesthetist$54,46850%$18,98163%

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
Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia IncMadisonPrivate not-for-profit881
South CollegeKnoxvillePrivate for-profit341
Union UniversityJacksonPrivate not-for-profit261
Lincoln Memorial UniversityHarrogatePrivate not-for-profit31

What nurse anesthetists earn in Tennessee

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

Median annual in Tennessee
$211,450
Mean annual
$218,870
Jobs in state
1,690
What the range looks like
10th pct$167,480Median$211,45090th pct$286,630
Versus the national median
-10.6%

U.S. median $236,590. Tennessee pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.55×

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

Metro areas in Tennessee

Memphis, TN-MS-AR
$243,240median
200 jobs
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
$211,450median
830 jobs
Jackson, TN
$190,970median
60 jobs
Knoxville, TN
$213,900median
220 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+8.6%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
2,700
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
4,600
53,800 → 58,500
Typical entry education
Master's degree

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 Nurse Anesthetists page.

How to become a Nurse Anesthetist

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Master's degree

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Top skills

Critical ThinkingReading ComprehensionActive LearningActive ListeningMonitoringSpeaking

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 Nurse Anesthetists1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 51.3804Nurse Anesthetist

Common questions

Answers for people weighing nurse anesthetists programs in Tennessee.

What degree do you need to become a Nurse Anesthetist?+

Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Nurse Anesthetist, which awarded 151 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 Nurse Anesthetist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Registered Nursing. Together they graduate about 151 people a year in Tennessee.

How much do nurse anesthetists earn in Tennessee?+

The median is $211,450 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 10.6% below the U.S. median of $236,590. 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 nurse anesthetists growing?+

BLS projects a +8.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 2,700 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 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 nurse anesthetists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Nurse Anesthetist, Staff Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), Staff Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (Staff CRNA) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 29-1151.

Programs in TennesseeNurse Anesthetist

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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