Best Technical Writer programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment
Write technical materials, such as equipment manuals, appendices, or operating and maintenance instructions.
4 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 20 people a year. The job pays a median of $79,550 in Tennessee across about 480 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
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.
3 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.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 23.1303In Tennessee → | 10 | 50.0% | 2 | $28,725 | $25,250 |
| 2 | CIP 52.0501In Tennessee → | 6 | 30.0% | 1 | $41,000 | $26,000 |
| 3 | CIP 23.1301In Tennessee → | 4 | 20.0% | 1 | $28,725 | $25,250 |
Top 4 schools in Tennessee
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 4 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maryville College Maryville, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing | — | 50% | $20,489 | 61% |
| 2 | Christian Brothers University Memphis, TN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Business/Corporate Communications, General | — | 55% | $11,063 | 87% |
| 3 | Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Writing, General | — | 54% | — | 69% |
| 4 | Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing | — | 58% | — | 76% |
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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryville College | Maryville | Private not-for-profit | 8 | 1 |
| Christian Brothers University | Memphis | Private not-for-profit | 6 | 1 |
| Middle Tennessee State University | Murfreesboro | Public | 4 | 1 |
| Tennessee Technological University | Cookeville | Public | 2 | 1 |
What technical writers earn in Tennessee
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $90,390. Tennessee pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Tennessee
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Technical Writers page.
How to become a Technical Writer
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Top skills
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 Technical Writers7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 09.0908Technical and Scientific Communication
- 19.0202Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences Communication
- 23.1301Writing, General
- 23.1303Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing
- 52.0501Business/Corporate Communications, General
- 52.0502Grantsmanship
- 52.0599Business/Corporate Communications, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing technical writers programs in Tennessee.
What degree do you need to become a Technical Writer?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing, which awarded 10 degrees in Tennessee in 2024-25, 50.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Technical Writer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, Business/Corporate Communications. Together they graduate about 20 people a year in Tennessee.
How much do technical writers earn in Tennessee?+
The median is $79,550 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 12.0% below the U.S. median of $90,390. 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 technical writers growing?+
BLS projects a +0.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 4,500 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 3 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 technical writers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Technical Writer, Information Developer, Technical Communicator, Documentation Specialist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-3042.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card