Tennessee / Public Defenders Conference / Public Defender
Job-title file
Public Defender
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
30 employees hold this title in Public Defenders Conference. Median total compensation for the role is $217,056, above the department median of $106,596.
- Employees
- 30
- Total payroll
- $6.5M
- Role median
- $217,056
- Agency median
- $106,596
- Comparison
- Above
What the records show
Role pay distribution
Pay distribution for this role
How total compensation varies among the 30 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.
Compared with the local labor market
Public Defender pay vs. Tennessee
Across all employers in Tennessee, the median wage for Lawyers — about 9,010 people — is $136,180. Public Defenders Conference pays a median base salary of $217,056 for this role, 59% above that figure — about the 77th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Public Defenders Conference sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Lawyers across every employer in Tennessee, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Public Defenders Conference’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. Public Defenders Conference’s median base salary is 36% above that national figure, about the 73rd 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 Public Defenders Conference is $217,056, 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
Public Defender beyond Tennessee
This role is reported in 3 jurisdictions. In Tennessee, the median of $217,056 ranks #2 of 3. See Public Defender across all of Tennessee →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Public Defenderroles 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
Employees with this title
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