Memorial Hospital - Chattanooga logo
Memorial Hospital - Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee

Physical Therapist

Physical TherapistFull-Time

Listed compensation

$37.22-$55.37/hr

The week · per this posting · weekdays assumed

Ask the employer about the work setting, call expectations, weekend coverage and time off.

Posted 1mo ago · Verified live

Job Description

Where You’ll Work

CommonSpirit Memorial is an award-winning, not-for-profit, faith-based health care organization dedicated to the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.

Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, we offer a comprehensive continuum of care, from preventative and primary care to acute hospital services specializing in cancer, cardiac, neuroscience, stroke, and orthopedic services.

Our commitment to excellence has earned us top prestigious recognition repeatedly from U.S. News and World Report, PINC AI™, CMS, Healthgrades®, Leapfrog, and most recently as one of the Best Places to Work in Tennessee.

We are proud to serve Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia with the expertise of 4,700 employees and nearly 500 affiliated physicians.

Job Summary and Responsibilities

As our Physical Therapist, you will help patients rebuild or maintain their physical wellbeing so they can function at their best level, reduce pain, and improve their quality of life.

Every day you will perform initial evaluations, develop and update individualized plans of care, and provide a variety of direct treatments.

You will be expected to consistently meet patient care productivity standards, collaborate with the interdisciplinary team and families, and promote a positive customer service environment.

To be successful in this role, you must possess strong age-appropriate competency skills, excellent communication abilities, and a collaborative, patient-centered approach to care.

Applies the knowledge and skills needed to do the job while keeping informed about practices, procedures, and new developments related to own work including: communicating with patients/families and case management regarding evaluation/treatment results and discharge plans as well as progress/concerns throughout treatment, recognizing changes in the patient’s medical status and notifying nursing when appropriate, aware of changes/additions that would benefit patient’s treatment program, demonstrates good body mechanics when lifting and transferring, assisting to maintain medical records/documentation for each patient and their plan of care, performing evaluations/treatments as well as assessments and re-evaluations as needed to establish treatment plans for patients exhibiting functional mobility/self-care deficits, scheduling of patients, performing duties with minimal supervision of director, demonstrating effective time management skills by completing patient care assignments in a quality manner.

Demonstrates commitment to professional behavior by: successfully completing annual certification requirements, attending mandatory in-services and online learning timely, demonstrates ability to share knowledge while working with other therapists/assistants/technicians/students and other healthcare professionals, assessing learning needs of staff and orients personnel as need arises, providing and responding to positive constructive feedback to staff, willing to work over as patient volume requires to meet customer’s needs, reporting to work on time and beginning assigned work in a timely manner, develops and maintains smooth cooperative working relationships with others, responding promptly to inquiries, organizes or finishes work on time 90% of the time, presents professional appearance through compliance with dress code, maintaining privacy and/or confidential hospital information at all times, completing daily patient charges to ensure timely entry into the computer system and reporting systems, participating in departmental quality improvement activities.

Demonstrates commitment to personal development by: identifying areas of professional weakness and seeking out resources, offering assistance to peers, remaining flexible by coping successfully with a variety of situations and personalities and the changing work environment, recognizing and performing duties which need to be performed although were not directly assigned, maintaining appropriate licensure and certification, pursuing continuing education that may be beneficial to daily work or growth of services and sharing the knowledge with others.

Demonstrates customer focused attitude: listening effectively to gain understanding of customer needs and response by taking appropriate and timely action, initiating/promoting customer relations within the department, presenting self and position appropriately to hospital visitors and staff at all times, maintaining positive interaction with customers (patients, visitors, physicians, team members), dealing effectively with stressful situations, looking for ways to improve service and introduce new work procedures that save time/effort/money.

Demonstrates effective communication skills: consistently good verbal and written communication skills with all primary customers, demonstrating attention to and conveying understanding of the comments/questions/concerns of others.

Demonstrates adherence to policies/procedures/standards: participation in required classes and activities for hospital accreditation, complies with specific policies/procedures/assignments concerning safety and codes, providing a safe patient environment free from hazards by complying with hospital safety policies and procedures, ensures that equipment is working properly and reporting malfunctions/abuse/loss promptly, keeping noise and clutter to a minimum in a patient’s room and in therapy department.

Job Requirements

Required

Graduate of accredited Physical Therapist program. Currently meets, or will acquire within 1 year from date of hire, qualifications for direct access. and

Basic Life Support - CPR, upon hire and

Physical Therapist: TN, upon hire and

Key Responsibilities

The Physical Therapist will perform initial patient evaluations, develop individualized plans of care, and provide direct treatments to improve patient mobility and quality of life. They are also responsible for collaborating with interdisciplinary teams, maintaining accurate medical records, and ensuring high standards of patient care.

Requirements

Candidates must be graduates of an accredited Physical Therapist program and hold a valid Tennessee Physical Therapist license. Additionally, they are required to possess Basic Life Support (BLS) certification upon hire.

Qualifications

Education
Professional certificate or licensure

Key Skills

Physical therapyPatient evaluationTreatment planningInterdisciplinary collaborationClinical assessmentRehabilitation

Physical Therapist Career Context

In Tennessee, the Physical Therapy weighted monthly median benchmark on WeekdayDoc is ~$85k (238 salary observations; 1,721 listings), vs ~$94k nationally (11,785 salary observations; 62,466 listings). Monthly aggregates cover 2026-01-01 through 2026-11-01; these are not the modal's selected comparable-job medians.

The cost-of-living index for Tennessee is 91.9 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)), so the posted ~$96k midpoint carries the purchasing power of roughly $105k in an average-cost state. 58.6% of Tennessee clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

What does the Physical Therapy market look like in Tennessee?
MeasureThis jobMarket
Listed pay$77k–$115kPhysical Therapy median $84k (middle half $80k–$93k)613 comparable listings, Nov 2026
Tennessee vs national$85k median in Tennessee$94k nationally (−10%)238 state / 11,785 national salary observations
Cost-of-living adjusted pay~$105k in purchasing powerTennessee index 91.9 (US = 100)BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)
Physical Therapy listings in Tennessee709 active21,499 nationallylive on WeekdayDoc, Nov 2026
Work settingon-sitepeers: 50% no call · 56% no weekends50 benchmarked listings
Sign-on & loan repaymentnot statedTennessee Physical Therapist listings: 29% state a sign-on bonus (median $15k) · 23% offer loan repayment736 active listings, Nov 2026
New Physical Therapy listings7,750 in the last 30 days4,154 the 30 days before (+87%)U.S., first seen on WeekdayDoc, Nov 2026
Physical Therapy pay trend+1.6% vs prior quarter—through Oct 2026
Sources: WeekdayDoc live listing index, BEA Regional Price Parities (2024); as of Nov 2026. Same values as the Weekday Verdict and Market Insights on this page.

Location & Logistics

Tennessee has no state income tax, which can significantly increase take-home pay compared to high-tax states. At the posted ~$96k midpoint, that is roughly $4k–$7k a year versus a typical 4–7% state rate.

Top Physical Therapist Jobs

27 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution

27 jobs · 13 employers
10
<$105k
8
$105k-120k
2
$120k
3
$135k-150k
4
$150k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks

27 jobs · 13 employers
401k / retirement match
96%
Sign-on bonus
52%
CME allowance
48%
Loan repayment
19%
Relocation assistance
4%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

Physical Therapist

Home Care Providers Group · Yuba City, California

$165,000
#2

Home Health Physical Therapist - Berkeley/Richmond

CVHCare · Berkeley, CA, United States

$150k
#3

Home Health Physical Therapist - Glendale

$150k
#4

Home Health Physical Therapist - Hayward

$150k
+ 25 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 4.8this job 3.0
Better work-life than 30% of Physical Therapy listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 21,566 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

Living in Chattanooga

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$324k
Typical market rent
$1,498/mo
Residents’ average commute
19 min
Metro price indexU.S. average = 100
91.5
State income tax
None
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Sep 2026), Zillow market rents (Sep 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

BEA 2024 · Chattanooga, TN-GA metro prices. Housing figures are city-level.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.