TENNESSEE — Federal Data, September 2026
The Best Trade Schools in Tennessee, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
4 accredited institutions in Tennessee report enough federal data to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The Tennessee RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 4 ranked trade schools in Tennessee, the median graduate needs 4.2 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $12,482, against median earnings of $36,036 one year after completion.
That puts Tennessee slower than the national median of 3.6 months measured across the 153 institutions in our national ranking. The best performer in the state is Chattanooga State Community College in Chattanooga, at 2.5 months.
Only schools that are currently operating, accredited, predominantly certificate or associate granting, and reporting both debt and earnings on at least four trade programs appear here. That is why this list is short: most institutions do not publish enough for a fair comparison.
TENNESSEE At A Glance
What the federal data says about trade schools in Tennessee
The Ranking
4 trade schools in Tennessee, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion | Programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chattanooga State Community CollegeChattanooga, TN | Public | 2.5 | $7,442 | $39,851 | 26% | 8 |
| 2 | Nashville Auto-Diesel CollegeNashville, TN | for-profit | 3.4 | $12,000 | $39,731 | 68% | 4 |
| 3 | Remington College-Memphis CampusMemphis, TN | nonprofit | 4.9 | $12,965 | $26,952 | 38% | 5 |
| 4 | Miller-Motte College-ChattanoogaChattanooga, TN | for-profit | 6.4 | $13,000 | $32,340 | 60% | 11 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers; earnings are median earnings one year after completion; both are medians across the school’s trade programs. Completion is the institution’s published rate.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback schools in Tennessee, one by one
Chattanooga State Community College
Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga State Community College is a public institution in Chattanooga. Across its 8 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $7,442 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $39,851 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.5 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 1.7 months faster than the Tennessee state median of 4.2. It reports a 26% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Precision Metal Working.
Nashville Auto-Diesel College
Nashville, TN
Nashville Auto-Diesel College is a private for-profit institution in Nashville. Across its 4 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $12,000 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $39,731 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 3.4 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and 0.8 months faster than the Tennessee state median of 4.2. It reports a 68% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Precision Metal Working.
Remington College-Memphis Campus
Memphis, TN
Remington College-Memphis Campus is a private nonprofit institution in Memphis. Across its 5 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $12,965 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $26,952 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 4.9 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 0.7 months slower than the Tennessee state median of 4.2. It reports a 38% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Building/Construction Finishing, Management, and Inspection.
Miller-Motte College-Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN
Miller-Motte College-Chattanooga is a private for-profit institution in Chattanooga. Across its 11 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $13,000 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $32,340 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 6.4 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and 2.2 months slower than the Tennessee state median of 4.2. It reports a 60% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Ground Transportation.
Read It Carefully
Why this list is short, and what it does not measure
Absence from this page is not a verdict. Most trade schools in Tennessee are missing because the Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, not because they scored badly. A small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all.
The measure is also a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing within a state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
By Trade
Or narrow it down to one trade in Tennessee
For TENNESSEE School Operators
Want to know how your school ranks, program by program?
We run this analysis for individual schools against their own federal data and show them where they sit against both the Tennessee median and the national one. Where the answer is good, it is the strongest recruitment argument a school owns.
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