Tennessee / Human Services / Recreation Therapist 2
Job-title file
Assess client needs, develop service plans, and connect people with support resources.
1 employees hold this title in Human Services. Median total compensation for the role is $47,111, below the department median of $50,886.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in Tennessee, the median wage for Recreational Therapists — about 150 people — is $51,910. Human Services pays a median base salary of $47,111 for this role, 9% below that figure — about the 24th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
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 Human 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. Human Services’s median base salary is 24% below that national figure, about the 20th 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 Tennessee range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Human Services is $47,111, 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
Recreation Therapist 2 is held in 2 Tennessee departments. In Human Services, the median of $47,111 ranks #2 of 2.
Median total compensation for the Recreation Therapist 2 role in other Tennesseedepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
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 →
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.
Record list
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Recreation Therapist 2/Human Services
Source-specific fields
Cynthia Johns is a Recreation Therapist 2 at Human Services within Trc Smyrna Client Services. They work full-time. 2026 total compensation came to $47,111.