New numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and a set of local and third-party reports offer a detailed snapshot of how employment and wages in the Memphis region are evolving. The data are clearest for job counts and pay in 2024 at the county level, and for broader labor-market conditions in 2025–2026 at the metro level. Together, they frame what kinds of jobs are available, how they are compensated, and where the regional economy is adding or losing momentum.
Shelby County anchors the regional labor market
The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which tracks jobs covered by unemployment insurance, shows that Shelby County, Tennessee remains by far the region’s largest employment center. In 2024, the county averaged 482,470 covered jobs, down from 493,623 in 2022 and 486,615 in 2023, according to BLS annual averages for area code 47157.1 Over the same 2022–2024 period, the number of business establishments in Shelby County rose from 23,518 to 24,468, indicating a modest increase in the count of employing units even as total covered employment edged lower.2
Pay levels in Shelby County sit above most surrounding counties in the available data. The county’s average weekly wage reached $1,375 in 2024, up from $1,291 in 2022 and $1,349 in 2023.3 That figure includes all covered industries and is not adjusted for cost of living.
Suburban and rural counties: smaller job bases, mixed wage patterns
Surrounding counties have significantly smaller job bases but show a mix of wage levels relative to Shelby County.
- DeSoto County, Mississippi (area 28033) averaged 72,666 covered jobs in 2024, up from 70,216 in 2022 and 71,103 in 2023.4 Business establishments increased from 3,450 in 2022 to 3,754 in 2024.5 The average weekly wage was $879 in 2024, rising from $824 in 2022 and $855 in 2023.6
- Tipton County, Tennessee (47167) recorded 11,848 covered jobs in 2024, down from 12,360 in 2022 and 12,061 in 2023.7 Yet the county’s establishment count increased over the same window, from 897 in 2022 to 962 in 2024.8 Tipton’s average weekly wage rose to $967 in 2024, compared with $895 in 2022 and $966 in 2023.9
- Fayette County, Tennessee (47047) had 8,093 covered jobs in 2024, roughly flat compared with 8,162 in 2022 and 8,085 in 2023.10 Establishments grew from 724 in 2022 to 823 in 2024.11 The average weekly wage was $1,098 in 2024, up from $1,004 in 2022 and $1,060 in 2023.12
- Marshall County, Mississippi (28093) showed 11,291 covered jobs in 2024, up from 10,660 in 2022 and 11,225 in 2023.13 Establishments increased from 511 to 566 between 2022 and 2024.14 The county’s average weekly wage was $935 in 2024, up from $865 in 2022 and $903 in 2023.15
- Tunica County, Mississippi (28143) recorded 5,799 covered jobs in 2024, close to 5,730 in 2022 and 5,995 in 2023.16 Establishments increased slightly from 259 in 2022 to 270 in 2024.17 The average weekly wage reached $802 in 2024, compared with $778 in 2022 and $809 in 2023.18
- Crittenden County, Arkansas (05035) had 16,197 covered jobs in 2024, up from 15,750 in 2022 and 15,861 in 2023.19 Establishments were effectively flat at 1,096 in 2024, versus 1,130 in 2022 and 1,095 in 2023.20 The average weekly wage was $919 in 2024, up from $868 in 2022 and $888 in 2023.21
Across these counties, the data show that establishment counts generally rose between 2022 and 2024 while wage levels increased in nominal terms. Employment levels either grew modestly or, in the case of Shelby and Tipton counties, declined slightly over this two-year period.1,4,7,10,13,16,19 The QCEW series excludes certain categories of workers, including proprietors, private household employees, unpaid volunteers, farm workers, and the unincorporated self‑employed, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ definition of total nonfarm payrolls, which uses the same underlying establishment survey.22 That means actual labor-market activity is broader than these covered-job counts alone.
Metro Memphis: wages trail the national average
BLS occupational wage data for May 2025 place the Memphis, TN–MS–AR Metropolitan Statistical Area below the national average on overall hourly pay. Workers in the Memphis MSA had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.96, compared with $33.54 nationwide.23,26 A BLS summary table reports these values under “Total, all occupations,” with each region’s share of employment scaled to 100 percent.26
The same BLS release highlights wage dispersion across different types of work in the metro area. According to Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee, higher-paying major occupational groups in Memphis include:
- Management occupations with a mean hourly wage of $65.54,
- Legal occupations at $55.61, and
- Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations at $47.14 per hour.24
Lower-paying groups include:
- Food preparation and serving related occupations at $15.30 per hour,
- Personal care and service occupations at $17.06, and
- Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations at $17.43 per hour.24
In terms of employment composition, transportation and material moving occupations account for 17.1 percent of local employment, followed by office and administrative support occupations at 13.6 percent of area jobs.25 Together, those two groups make up more than 30 percent of Memphis-area employment in the BLS occupational data, underscoring the role of logistics and administrative work in the regional economy.
Metro-level employment, unemployment and recent job change
Separate BLS data for the Memphis MSA report metro-wide civilian labor force and employment counts through mid‑2026. For January through May 2026, the civilian labor force is listed in a BLS “Economy at a Glance” table at 629.7, 629.2, 628.4, 629.0, and 630.2 (units in thousands), respectively, with a preliminary June value of 626.2.27 Over the same months, employment is shown at 601.6, 599.5, 601.7, 603.1 and 604.4, with a preliminary June reading of 596.0 (also in thousands).28 These figures imply some month‑to‑month softening in both the labor force and employment into June 2026, but the table excerpt does not by itself provide unemployment rates or year‑earlier comparisons, so conclusions about the direction of joblessness are limited by the partial view.
Another BLS series, total nonfarm employment for the Memphis MSA, records monthly seasonally adjusted job levels of 649.1, 648.8, 651.7, 651.9 and 652.2 thousand for the first five months of 2026, with a preliminary June reading of 647.9 thousand.29 The same table notes that 12‑month percent change figures are available for this series, but the excerpt here is truncated before those values appear, so the year‑over‑year growth rate cannot be stated from the supplied evidence.
Outside BLS, USAFacts summarizes recent month‑to‑month changes in metro Memphis employment based on government sources. According to a USAFacts metro‑area page, the Memphis area lost 1,300 jobs in June 2026, and over the past five years has averaged about 153 new jobs per month.30,31 The same source reports that between July 2021 and June 2026 the Memphis area recorded job gains in 31 out of 60 months, and it characterizes June 2026 as having the 13th‑lowest job growth of that five‑year window.32,33 These figures are not official BLS statistics, but they are described as derived from underlying government data; without the full methodology in view, they are best treated as context for volatility rather than as a substitute for primary‑source series.
Selected corporate and regional investment announcements
Alongside the government data, a set of reports and announcements point to specific projects and broader regional growth estimates, though they vary in how directly they can be tied to the BLS employment series.
In one transportation-sector expansion, JNJ Express said it would invest $83.6 million to expand operations in Memphis and create 610 new jobs over five years as it develops a new corporate headquarters and operations campus in Southeast Memphis.34 The company plans to redevelop and occupy a former retail site at 5000 American Way.35 According to a project description, the new campus will consolidate headquarters functions—such as human relations, accounting, information technology, marketing and other corporate roles—and add a second building for operations including distribution, maintenance and transportation functions.36 In the same article, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is quoted as saying the investment will “revitalize a retail site that has been vacant for a long time” and “jumpstart the surrounding area,” framing it as a catalyst for additional private investment; those are characterizations rather than measurable outcomes.37
A separate local market report from the Greater Memphis Chamber states that 2021 was a record year for economic development in Greater Memphis with more than 9,000 announced jobs.38 The same report says Greater Memphis’ Gross Regional Product grew by $4.4 billion in 2021 and that the Memphis regional economy grew at 6.2 percent that year, compared with 5.5 percent real GDP growth nationally.39,40 It also notes that the region’s supply chain and logistics industries grew a total of 13 percent through 2021.41 These figures describe changes in output and sector size, not headcounts, and they come from an advocacy organization rather than from BLS; without underlying series or methods in view, they should be read as high‑level context for that year rather than as independently verifiable federal statistics.
Local media and civic sources also highlight more recent individual investments. One television segment headline states that a company had announced 240 new jobs and a $150 million investment in Memphis, and another line in the same source describes downtown Memphis as seeing a “major push for revitalization, new investments and development.”42,43 The clip text does not specify the company, the project’s timeline or its sector, so it cannot be directly linked to the BLS trends discussed above.
How much can be inferred from the current evidence?
The verified evidence set supports some firm points about the Memphis regional labor market as of 2022–2026:
- Shelby County is the region’s clear employment hub, with nearly half a million covered jobs in 2024, while several surrounding counties have between roughly 6,000 and 73,000 covered jobs.1,4,7,10,13,16,19
- Average weekly wages in 2024 ranged from about $802 in Tunica County to $1,375 in Shelby County, with Fayette County also above $1,000 per week.3,6,9,12,15,18,21
- Across the metro, the mean hourly wage in May 2025 was $28.96, below the U.S. average of $33.54, and pay levels vary substantially by occupation, with management, legal, and healthcare practitioner roles paying the most among the listed groups and food service and personal care among the lowest.23,24,26
- Transportation and material moving, plus office and administrative support, make up a large share of metro employment, at 17.1 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively.25
- BLS metro data indicate that both the labor force and employment edged down between May and June 2026, and total nonfarm employment dipped from 652.2 thousand in May to a preliminary 647.9 thousand in June, but year‑over‑year change figures are not fully captured in the excerpt.27–29
The evidence is less complete on causality—whether specific projects like JNJ Express’s headquarters campus or the 240‑job, $150‑million investment reported by local media have yet translated into net gains in the BLS employment series—and it does not provide a continuous long‑term history of local GDP or sector output beyond 2021. Forecasts or value judgments about the region’s future performance would therefore go beyond what can be supported here.
Within those limits, the verified data show a regional labor market dominated by Shelby County, with diverse wage levels by county and occupation, and a set of announced investments and prior‑year output gains that give additional context for how the area’s job base and pay levels may be evolving.
