Tennessee·Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations·SOC 29-1223

Best Psychiatrist programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment

Diagnose, treat, and help prevent mental.

5 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 782 people a year. The job pays a median of $214,880 in Tennessee across about 410 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledPsychiatristChild PsychiatristStaff PsychiatristOutpatient PsychiatristDoctorPhysicianPsychoanalystNeuropsychiatrist
Graduates / yr
782
in Tennessee
Median pay · Tennessee
$214,880
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
410
people employed
Schools
5
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
66%
across those schools
Median net price
$18,981
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 51.1201In Tennessee
414
52.9%
4$33,290$23,488
2
CIP 51.1202In Tennessee
368
47.1%
1$33,290$23,488

Top 5 schools in Tennessee

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 5 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Lincoln Memorial University
Harrogate, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
368Osteopathic Medicine/Osteopathy50%$18,98163%
2The University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Memphis, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
170Medicine
3Meharry Medical College
Nashville, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
87Medicine
4Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
83Medicine94%$14,8546%
5East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
74Medicine53%86%

All 5 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
Lincoln Memorial UniversityHarrogatePrivate not-for-profit3681
The University of Tennessee Health Science CenterMemphisPublic1701
Meharry Medical CollegeNashvillePrivate not-for-profit871
Vanderbilt UniversityNashvillePrivate not-for-profit831
East Tennessee State UniversityJohnson CityPublic741

What psychiatrists earn in Tennessee

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

Median annual in Tennessee
$214,880
Mean annual
$210,520
Jobs in state
410
What the range looks like
10th pct$65,820Median$214,88090th pct$359,990
Versus the national median
-23.8%

U.S. median $281,870. Tennessee pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.69×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Tennessee

Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
$144,020median
230 jobs
Chattanooga, TN-GA
avg
50 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+6.1%
Faster than average
Openings per year
900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,700
27,100 → 28,800
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
Plus internship/residency

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 Psychiatrists page.

How to become a Psychiatrist

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
On-the-job training
Internship/residency

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

Active ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingReading ComprehensionWritingMonitoring

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 13 majors mapped to Psychiatrists2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 51.1201Medicine
  • 51.1202Osteopathic Medicine/Osteopathy
  • 61.0107Family Medicine/Psychiatry Combined Specialty Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.0117Internal Medicine/Psychiatry Combined Specialty Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.0123Pediatrics/Psychology/Child-Adolescent Psychology Combined Specialty Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.0124Psychiatry/Neurology Combined Specialty Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.2401Psychiatry Residency Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.2402Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.2403Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.2404Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.2405Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.2406Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.2499Psychiatry Residency/Fellowship Programs, Other(no graduates reported)

Common questions

Answers for people weighing psychiatrists programs in Tennessee.

What degree do you need to become a Psychiatrist?+

Doctoral or professional degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Medicine, which awarded 414 degrees in Tennessee in 2024-25, 52.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Psychiatrist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Medicine. Together they graduate about 782 people a year in Tennessee.

How much do psychiatrists earn in Tennessee?+

The median is $214,880 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 23.8% below the U.S. median of $281,870. 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 psychiatrists growing?+

BLS projects a +6.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

5 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 psychiatrists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Psychiatrist, Child Psychiatrist, Staff Psychiatrist, Outpatient Psychiatrist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 29-1223.

Programs in TennesseeMedicine

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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