Compared with the local labor market
Recreation Therapist 3 pay vs. Tennessee
Across all employers in Tennessee, the median wage for Recreational Therapists — about 150 people — is $51,910. Children's Services pays a median base salary of $56,916 for this role, 10% above that figure — about the 63rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Children's Services sits in the local pay range
$37,080
$48,090
$51,910
$61,220
$78,850
Children's Services median · $56,916
The bar is the range of annual wages for Recreational Therapists across every employer in Tennessee, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Children's Services’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Recreational Therapists — about 14,930 people — is $61,960. Children's Services’s median base salary is 8% below that national figure, about the 39th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$40,990
$50,240
$61,960
$79,930
$100,420
Children's Services median · $56,916
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 Tennessee range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Children's Services is $58,318, 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 departments
This role across Tennessee
Recreation Therapist 3 is held in 3 Tennessee departments. In Children's Services, the median of $58,318 ranks #3 of 3.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Recreation Therapist 3 role in other Tennesseedepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
Recreation Therapist beyond Tennessee
This role is reported in 5 jurisdictions. In Tennessee, the median of $53,863 ranks #5 of 5. See Recreation Therapist across all of Tennessee →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Recreation Therapist 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.