Metro Nashville / Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration / Public Defender
Job-title file
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
2 employees hold this title in Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration. Median total compensation for the role is $129,493, above the department median of $86,127.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN area, the median wage for Lawyers — about 3,990 people — is $142,540. Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration pays a median base salary of $113,917 for this role, 20% below that figure — about the 32nd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Lawyers across every employer in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Lawyers — about 754,500 people — is $159,670. Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration’s median base salary is 29% below that national figure, about the 30th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration is $129,493, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 3 jurisdictions. See Public Defender across all of Metro Nashville →
Median total compensation for comparable Public Defender roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
Page 1
Public Defender/Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration
Source-specific fields
Martesha Johnson holds the role of Public Defender at Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration. In 2025, their total compensation was $202,130.
Public Defender/Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration
Source-specific fields
Carol Deaner is a Public Defender at Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, Administration. 2019 total compensation came to $56,856.