According to a Reuters analysis of federal data, of the 378 metropolitan areas ranked by the change in their share of national employment from 2010 to 2017, 40 percent of the new jobs generated during that time (along with a similar share of the additional wages) went to the top 20 metropolitan areas. The top 40 job-generating metro areas saw employment expand by 23 percent during those years while jobs grew by 11 percent in other metro areas and by 4.5 percent in surrounding counties.

Nashville ranked 11^th on this list with private sector jobs surging 31 percent, from 622,000 in 2010 to around 820,000 through 2017, double the national job growth rate of around 15 percent, according to the report. Some of the reasons for Nashville’s above-average growth include the easing of the downtown area’s strict zoning rules in the 1990s, the city’s prescient decision during the financial crisis to build a new $600 million convention center (which led to the development of new hotels and other synergistic businesses), and the absence of a personal income tax in Tennessee.

Last Updated on July 20, 2019 by Ramin Seddiq