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Nashville attracts more than 53,000 businesses with its diverse economy, creative culture, low cost of business, and well-educated population — according to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Among the diverse companies here, there are five key industries that have a major impact on county residents + economic growth:
Health care
- More than half of the privately-owned hospital beds in the US are operated by Nashville-area companies.
- Nashville’s health care industry directly employs over 126,000 — 28,000+ of which come from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville’s largest company).
Music + entertainment
- Nashville has the highest concentration of music industry establishments in the nation.
- The industry has a total annual impact of ~$15.9 billion + four times more music industry employment than any other US city.
Advanced manufacturing
- Nashville connects 20 states by the CSX rail system, air cargo at BNA is supported by 10 major carriers, and the city offers competitive freight transport rates.
- The industry showed a 35% increase in new jobs between 2010 and 2019, and most industry workers are employed as construction laborers.
Corporate operations
- Nashville’s talent pipeline makes it one of the most desirable headquarters + corporate office locations in America — around 60% of students choose to remain in the area to work.
- Nashville was the second “hottest job market” in the country in 2020 according to the Wall Street Journal + had five companies on the Fortune 500 list most recently.
Supply chain management
- Nashville is one of six US cities with three major intersecting interstate highways.
- Location advantages allow one- and two-day truck delivery times to more than 75% of all US markets.
This information is derived from the most recent data published by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
