Nashville and its surrounding areas continue to lead Tennessee in population growth, according to data released today by the Tennessee State Data Center.
The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin (Nashville) metropolitan statistical area (MSA) ranked high in both one-year and five-year growth rates, coming in at 36th and 31st in the nation. These rates are calculated from the US Census Bureau’s 2015 county and metro population estimates released today.
The Nashville MSA’s population in 2015 was 1,830,345. The total population for Tennessee in 2015 was 6,600,299, making the Nashville MSA’s population 27.7 percent of the total state population.
A partner to the US Census Bureau, the center is housed at the Center for Business and Economic Research within UT’s Haslam College of Business.
One-Year Growth Highlights: 2014 to 2015
- The Nashville MSA ranked 36th out of 412 MSAs in the nation at 2.0 percent population growth.
- The top 10 fastest-growing counties in Tennessee were either located in or bordered the Nashville MSA (Rutherford, Williamson, Wilson, Maury, Montgomery, Sumner, Dickson, Bedford, Davidson, and Smith).
- Knox County continued steady growth at 0.6 percent.
- Sevier County ranked 14th in the state at 1.1 percent growth.
- 58 of 95 counties experienced growth.
- 25 counties grew faster than the state average of 0.8 percent.
Five-Year Growth Highlights: 2010 to 2015
- The Nashville MSA ranked 31st in the nation at 9.2 percent growth; the Clarksville MSA ranked 61st at 7.4 percent.
- While most of the 10 fastest-growing counties in Tennessee were within or bordered the Nashville MSA (Davidson, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson), three were in East Tennessee (Bledsoe, Bradley, and Sevier).
- Knox County ranked 15th in the state at 2.7 percent growth.
- 54 of 95 counties experienced growth.
- 16 counties grew faster than the state average of 3.8 percent.
View Tennessee population estimate graphics produced by the Tennessee State Data Center.
Access the 2015 county and MSA population estimates on the US Census Bureau website.
The Tennessee State Data Center provides US census data and products, training and technical assistance to users, feedback to the Census Bureau on data usability, and assistance to state and local government.
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CONTACT:
Melissa Stefanini (865-974-6070, tnsdc@utk.edu)
Tyra Haag (865-974-5460, tyra.haag@tennessee.edu)