Counselor Pay and Health Insurance in Tennessee (2026)

Q: How much does a counselor make in Tennessee?

The BLS median wage for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Tennessee is $48,170 a year (May 2024). Starting pay — the 10th percentile — is about $30,890. The middle half earn $36,910 to $60,900, and the top 10% more than $75,240. BLS counts about 7,310 people doing this work for an employer in Tennessee. The self-employed are not in the BLS survey, so this is the going rate for the work, not your own number.

Wage benchmark and the 2027 subsidy cliff

$48,170median annual wage, Counselors in Tennessee

302%of the federal poverty level

$63,8402027 subsidy cliff, single-person household

Below the cliff. At this income a single-person household remains eligible for a premium tax credit in 2027.

This occupation sits above the cliff in 2 of the 23 states reported and below it in the other 21, so the answer changes with the state.

What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors (SOC 21-1018) in Tennessee. BLS surveys wage and salary workers and excludes the self-employed, so it is a benchmark for the occupation in this state — not the income of a self-employed counselor. Premium tax credit eligibility is set by household modified adjusted gross income and household size, not by occupation, so treat this as a reference point rather than a determination of what you qualify for.

Why the cliff is back. The enhanced premium tax credits expired on 31 December 2025. For plan year 2027 the 400% FPL limit applies again, so household income above $63,840 ends premium tax credit eligibility outright.

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024. State-level annual median wage (A_MEDIAN), detailed occupation. https://www.bls.gov/oes/. Retrieved 2026-08-03. Figures used unmodified; suppressed cells are omitted, not estimated.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines. 91 FR 1797, 15 January 2026. https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines. Retrieved 2026-09-27. The 2026 guidelines govern premium tax credit eligibility for plan year 2027 coverage. The 2027 guidelines apply to 2028 coverage.
Full dataset for all occupations and states: CSV · JSON (CC BY 4.0).

All 23 states

Benchmark premium and median wage for this occupation, ranked by premium.

#	State	Benchmark @40	Median wage	vs cliff
1	Maryland	$414	$57,820	below
2	Virginia	$455	$58,410	below
3	Indiana	$474	$49,280	below
4	Nevada	$497	$59,470	below
5	Ohio	$513	$56,990	below
6	Michigan	$523	$59,530	below
7	Colorado	$557	$59,190	below
8	South Carolina	$564	$50,720	below
9	Oklahoma	$604	$58,610	below
10	Wisconsin	$611	$62,470	below
11	Georgia	$615	$55,320	below
12	North Carolina	$638	$56,470	below
13	Utah	$640	$65,920	above
14	Alabama	$645	$48,880	below
15	Illinois	$646	$59,570	below
16	South Dakota	$655	$53,400	below
17	Texas	$661	$60,630	below
18	Mississippi	$662	$46,810	below
19	Kansas	$670	$57,760	below
20	Florida	$683	$56,830	below
21	Nebraska	$710	$64,410	above
22	Tennessee	$711	$48,170	below
23	Arkansas	$774	$49,990	below

Questions

How much does a counselor make in Tennessee?

The BLS median wage for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Tennessee is $48,170 a year (May 2024). Starting pay — the 10th percentile — is about $30,890. The middle half earn $36,910 to $60,900, and the top 10% more than $75,240. BLS counts about 7,310 people doing this work for an employer in Tennessee. The self-employed are not in the BLS survey, so this is the going rate for the work, not your own number.

Does being a counselor change what health insurance costs in Tennessee?

No. Under the ACA carriers may not rate, decline, or exclude based on occupation or health history. Premiums vary only by age, ZIP code, tobacco use and household size, so the benchmark of $711 a month applies regardless of trade.

Do counselors qualify for a subsidy in Tennessee in 2026?

Premium tax credit eligibility depends on household modified adjusted gross income and household size, not occupation. For reference, the BLS median wage for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Tennessee is $48,170, which is below the 2027 cliff of $63,840 for a single-person household. Your own income and household size decide the answer.

What is the benchmark premium in Tennessee for 2026?

$711 a month for a 40-year-old, ranking 22 of 23 states published here. That is full price before any premium tax credit.

Where do these numbers come from?

Premiums come from the CMS Plan Year 2026 Qualified Health Plan Landscape file and published state rate approvals. Wages come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024. Both are reproduced unmodified; the full wage dataset is downloadable as CSV or JSON.

Going deeper on Tennessee

This page compares states. For Tennessee specifically — county-by-county carriers, plan data and enrollment help — that is published on Coverage by County. To check whether a plan actually covers your hospital, see Plans By City.

← Counselors in all states · All trades · All occupations

How Tennessee compares with every other state →

Want this worked out for your ZIP?

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Tennessee Counselors: what 2027 actually changes

The biggest change here is a carrier walking away. Cigna leaves the ACA individual market on January 1, 2027 — one of the 6 carriers writing in Tennessee today. Every counselor on a Cigna plan is moving, and doing nothing just means the marketplace chooses the replacement.

On price the only honest number today is national: the Peterson-KFF read of 2027 filings puts the median proposed rise near 15%, spanning −1% to 54%. Final Tennessee rates are not approved, so any precise 2027 figure quoted for this state is guesswork.

Mark November 1, 2026 to open and December 15 to act. That second date guarantees cover from January 1 in Tennessee regardless of how the current litigation over the enrollment window resolves.

One thing 2027 will not fix: no PPO is sold anywhere in Tennessee. All 95 counties offer EPO plans only, so care outside the network is effectively emergency-only. If your work as a counselor crosses county lines, weigh that above the premium.

Get ahead of the November rush

You already know you are changing plans — Cigna is leaving. The only real question is whether you pick the replacement or the marketplace picks it for you, and that is a much easier decision made now than in the second week of December.

Enter a ZIP and a licensed agent will tell you three things:

Whether your current plan and carrier are still writing in your county for 2027
What your income estimate should realistically be — the number your credit is calculated from, and the one counselors most often get wrong
Whether the doctors you actually use are in the 2027 network, before you are locked in

Map my 2027 options →

Counselors Health Insurance in Tennessee