Asphalt driveway cost in Jackson, TN

Jackson: what basic, standard and premium work costs

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Jackson wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Local wages behind the labor line

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 3 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Jackson is 0.84 times the national level.

Paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators (47-2071) carry 40% of the labor weighting. BLS does not publish this trade for the Jackson metro, so we used the Tennessee statewide median: $20.44 an hour against $25.64 for the US. The middle half of them earn between $18.16 and $24.88 an hour.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 30% of the weighting: a median of $21.45 an hour, 5% below the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $17.83 and $23.42 an hour. About 580 work in the metro. That is 68.6 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so the supply of crews looks typical.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 30%) the local median is $22.71 an hour, which is 21% below the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $19.65 and $26.72 an hour. BLS counts 270 of them working in the area, 31.9 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is about average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($24.88 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $150. At the 25th percentile ($18.16) it shrinks by about $75. The total moves by 3.1% or 1.6%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 84,530 jobs in the Jackson area. That makes it the 227th largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.05% of US employment.

Add-ons priced for Jackson

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Jackson by the average of the local wage index (0.84) and goods index (0.96), a factor of 0.90. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Jackson against nearby metros and the rest of Tennessee

Of the five closest metros, 2 are cheaper than Jackson. Jonesboro is the lowest at about $4,600 (midpoint, 600 sq ft), 100 miles away.

Across 300 US metros, Jackson comes in at #246 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $7,650; the cheapest is Fort Smith, AR at $4,450 (midpoints, 600 sq ft). Statewide, Jackson is 1% below the Tennessee figure.

Other Tennessee metros

Cities with a workforce like Jackson's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Jackson against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

When to schedule asphalt driveway in Jackson

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Jackson Exp Stn (5 miles from the city center). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

March through June and September through November are the stretches where digging, grading and setting material in the ground runs into the fewest weather problems in Jackson (7 of 12 months). January, February and December have an average overnight low at or below freezing (32°F); July and August have an average daytime high of 90°F or more.

In January, February and December the average low is at or below freezing, which means frozen ground and slower digging, compaction and sod or stone placement. NOAA counts about 71 days a year with a low at or below 32°F at this station.

Jackson gets about 57 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 3 inches of snow. The wettest months are March, April and May (5.8 inches in March). Inside the workable window, September and October are the driest, at 4.1 and 4.0 inches. The station averages about 56 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Asphalt driveway: what moves the price in Jackson

• Base work

  Four to eight inches of compacted aggregate under the asphalt is where cheap quotes cut corners. Base typically runs $1-$3 per sq ft.

• Small jobs cost more per foot

  Paving crews move a paver, roller and trucks to your address, so a 400 sq ft driveway carries more mobilization per square foot than a 1,000 sq ft one.

• Hot-mix price

  Hot-mix asphalt is $100-$200 per ton delivered and moves with oil prices (PaveGauge).

What nearby projects cost in Jackson

Because every project leans on different trades, Jackson's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, paver patio runs −4% and concrete driveway −13%.