Ranked 10 of 17 states · median $773/mo · CMS PY2026
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A 40-year-old roofer in Tennessee pays a median $773/month for a Silver plan before subsidies — 10th of 17 on cost. The cheapest plan in the state is $646 from Ambetter of Tennessee in Fayette. On highest out-of-pocket maximum, Tennessee ranks 17 of 17 for this occupation.
For work with real injury exposure the premium is the wrong headline number. What decides a bad year is the annual out-of-pocket maximum — the ceiling you stop paying at. A fall, a fracture, an imaging series and a course of physical therapy will reach that ceiling on any metal tier, so the states below are ordered by worst-case exposure.
Occupational context: One of the highest fall-fatality rates of any US trade; heat illness.
None of that changes your price. ACA plans in Tennessee are community rated — premium varies by age, ZIP code, tobacco use and household size only. Your occupation cannot be used to rate you, decline you, or exclude a condition. What it changes is which plan design is the right bet.
Premium is set by rating area, so a roofer in one Tennessee county can pay materially more than one an hour away. Six counties from across the state, cheapest Silver plan for a 40-year-old:
| County | Cheapest Silver @40 | Issuer | Deductible | Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greene | $678 | BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee | $8,100 | 4 |
| Bledsoe | $698 | Ambetter of Tennessee | $6,000 | 5 |
| Meigs | $698 | Ambetter of Tennessee | $6,000 | 5 |
| Crockett | $701 | BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee | $8,100 | 5 |
| Henry | $701 | BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee | $8,100 | 5 |
| Davidson | $751 | Oscar | $6,000 | 5 |
The spread across just these six is $72/month — $870 a year for the same metal tier. Statewide the range runs $646 to $1,001. Coverage by County publishes all 95 Tennessee counties individually.
| Tennessee — worst-case exposure | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Lowest annual out-of-pocket maximum | $5,200 |
| Highest annual out-of-pocket maximum | $10,600 |
| Cheapest Gold plan @40 | $636 — Oscar |
| Gold deductible | $2,000 |
| Cheapest Silver @40 | $646 — Ambetter of Tennessee |
| Cheapest Silver @50 | $903 |
For a roofer, the gap between $5,200 and $10,600 in annual out-of-pocket maximum is worth more than any premium difference on this page. One serious injury reaches that ceiling regardless of which plan you picked.
Source: CMS Plan Year 2026 Qualified Health Plan Landscape file. 5,239 plan records across 95 Tennessee counties. Full-price filed rates before premium tax credits — verify at enrollment.
Cheaper for the same coverage: South Dakota ($725), Oklahoma ($731), Kansas ($765). More expensive: Mississippi ($773), Florida ($789), Utah ($805).
Side-by-side: Tennessee vs Oklahoma · Tennessee vs Kansas · Tennessee vs Mississippi · Tennessee vs Florida
Read the comparison as context, not as a shopping list. Your county of residence determines what you can buy, and for a roofer that is fixed unless you relocate. Where it is actionable is a move already in progress — that is a qualifying life event, and you have 60 days on either side of it.
If you file a Schedule C as a roofer, the categories that usually show up are: Tools, truck, fall-protection gear, liability insurance. The health premium itself is normally an above-the-line deduction under IRC §162(l), which reduces AGI rather than requiring you to itemize. Your CPA should confirm it against your actual situation.
If your household income is above the subsidy range, ACA is not automatically the answer. There are other categories of coverage that may fit, and they work very differently. That is a conversation, not a web page.
The BLS median wage for Roofers in Tennessee is $44,780 a year (May 2024). Starting pay — the 10th percentile — is about $31,370. The middle half earn $38,540 to $49,010, and the top 10% more than $60,680. BLS counts about 2,340 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.
The cheapest Silver plan for a 40-year-old in Tennessee is $646 per month from Ambetter of Tennessee, with a state median of $773. Both figures are full price before premium tax credits; most buyers pay less after subsidies.
No. Under the ACA, carriers cannot rate, decline, or exclude based on occupation or health history. Rates vary only by age, ZIP code, tobacco use and household size.
No. Only EPO plans were filed for 2026.
Tennessee ranks 10 of 17 states covered here, at a median $773 per month. Indiana is cheapest at $558 and Nebraska is most expensive at $875.
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 1 of the 23 states reported and below it in the other 22, so the answer changes with the state.
What this figure is. It is the median annual wage BLS reports for Roofers (SOC 47-2181) 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 roofer. 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.
This page compares states. For Tennessee specifically — county-by-county carriers, plan data and enrollment help — I publish that on Coverage by County, including a page written for Roofers in Tennessee and a blog covering deductibles, subsidies and special enrollment.
One of Tennessee’s 6 carriers is leaving. Cigna exits the individual market entirely on January 1, 2027, so if you are a roofer covered by them the question is not whether you switch but whether you choose the switch yourself.
Nobody can tell you your 2027 Tennessee premium yet. Filings nationally cluster around a 15% median increase, with the full spread running −1% to 54% — and until this state signs off, a specific local number is invention.
Enrollment opens November 1, 2026. Treat December 15 as the deadline: it guarantees January 1 cover on every marketplace, Tennessee included. Conflicting end dates get quoted because a 2025 rule shortened the window and a court vacated it in June 2026, appeal pending — enrol by the 15th and the argument is irrelevant to you.
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 roofer crosses county lines, weigh that above the premium.
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:
Rates for Roofers in Tennessee are set by county, not by occupation. Start with your ZIP and a licensed agent will show you the plans actually filed where you live.
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