Most airline pilots, sales managers and nurse practitioners weren't making $100,000 in Nashville before the pandemic.

But they are now.

Those are three of the 11 occupations (seen in the chart below) in the Nashville area for which median annual salaries reached six figures between 2019 and 2021, according to a new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by The Business Journals.

The gains come as salaries have soared since the economy recovery ramped up after the initial shockwaves of the pandemic, with a tight labor market and elevated turnover rates fueling significant raises and bonuses.

Nashville has experienced strong recovery following the pandemic. The region's economy expanded at more than double the national rate in 2021, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. And the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the Nashville metro area added a net of 63,800 jobs from October 2021 to October 2022. That 5.9% gain ranked third among large metro areas in the nation, with populations of 1 million or more.

The national picture

As salaries soared since the pandemic, 12 occupations moved into the $100,000 club at the national level between 2019 and 2021, according to BLS data. 

One of the biggest jumps was for industrial and organization psychologists, which saw median annual salaries grow from about $92,880 in 2019 to about $105,310 in 2021 — a 13% jump.

Companies have been worried about slipping productivity and employee burnout since 2020, and industrial psychologists have been in demand as they help organizations navigate those challenges.

Other roles that climbed into the $100,000 ranks were information security analysts, biochemists and post-secondary health specialist teachers, among others. 

The occupational salary data analyzed by The Business Journals does not cover 2022, in which record inflation pushed prices, costs and salaries even higher.

Employees have seen wages skyrocket since the middle of 2021, as companies competed for scarce workers amid massive demand for goods and services. In June 2022, workers saw 6.7% annual median wage growth over the same time in 2021. That growth eventually slowed to 6.1%, but remains higher than at any point in the last 25 years, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. 

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found the average reservation wage, which is the lowest wage survey respondents would accept for a new job, increased to $73,667 in November — the highest it had recorded.

But despite the best efforts of the Fed, the job market still remains tight, with about 10.5 million job openings on the last business day of November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate is hovering around 3.5%, the lowest it has been in decades. Quit rates are down from their record peak during the pandemic, but still above pre-pandemic levels.