Health Care Industry Grows Its Share of Nashville Economy

Nashville has continued to see more and more health care jobs, even through the economic downturn. A new study from MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center puts the industry’s total impact at $30 billion. That’s an increase of 60 percent since 2004.

Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce President Ralph Schulz say he’s not surprised to see just how big a role health care is now playing in the local economy.

“This study just gives us the facts to back up what we can see with our own two eyes happening in the industry.”

The number of jobs directly tied to the health care industry has grown from 94,000 to more than 110,000. Schulz says that’s the strongest number in the study. He says it’s the first thing he wants companies considering an expansion or relocation to see.

“The first words off of our lips are, ‘look at the significance of the health care workforce in this community.’ That tells you this is the place to be.”

Beyond the local impact, Nashville stands out among peer cities like Charlotte, Atlanta and Dallas in several measures, including the number of health care jobs per capita. However, those same cities have seen health care employment grow at a faster rate than Nashville.

Nashville ranks behind Dallas and Atlanta in number of corporate headquarters, but the city is well in the lead in terms of how many people work for those companies. More than 400,000 jobs around the world are tied to health care companies based in Nashville.

The health care economic impact study was paid for by the Nashville Health Care Council.

The full health care economic impact study can be viewed here.