Tennessee: A State That Moves Things
Tennessee's economic development department highlights distribution and logistics, healthcare and life sciences, and advanced manufacturing. It counts more than 316,000 Tennesseans employed in distribution and logistics, second most among the states, and more than 36,000 employed in healthcare and life sciences across roughly 2,900 companies. Underneath the big sectors, the 2023 Census County Business Patterns counts 150,129 employer establishments statewide, 93.4 percent with fewer than 50 employees.
Higher volume makes manual handoffs more expensive. The small firms that support those sectors inherit the same pace without the same staffing.
- Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development: Distribution and Logistics (Tennessee) (current page; retrieved 2026-10-08)
- Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development: Healthcare and Life Sciences (Tennessee) (current page; retrieved 2026-10-08)
- U.S. Census Bureau: 2023 County Business Patterns: State file (cbp23st) (2023 CBP; retrieved 2026-10-05)