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Nashville VitalSigns Report 2017
Nashville Chamber of Commerce
Ralph Schulz, President of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, spoke to our firm this morning regarding the status of Nashville with regard to three things. They call it the VitalSigns report. The three factors are Advancing Regional Mobility, Improving Postsecondary Attainment, and Enhancing Health and Wellness. The stance they take is that the inter-connectivity of these three is critical.
Nashville is growing at a rate of approximately 71 people a day. Out of our 8 peer cities only Denver and Austin are anticipated to grow faster than we are.
Advancing Mobility is crucial to employers keeping their businesses in
Nashville, as well as continuing to attract new businesses here. We have to fund mass transit and make sure employees can get to work in a reasonable timeframe. The governor-proposed gas tax will be of help for maintenance, but we have some work to do to fund the major transportation needs.
While Nashville’s percentage of workforce with a 4-year degree and higher is in line with our peer cities, Nashville’s workforce is lagging behind a bit in level of education. The Chamber is hearing (as recently as a conference this past week in NY) that companies tend to relocate to cities where the workforce is educated and readily available.
However, the city is continuously improving and our reform for education is becoming a positive enough example that the UK just came here to study it!
And although we have more doctors per capita than the national average, we are also showing we have a greater prevalence of some chronic diseases such as COPD, Depression, Diabetes and Hypertension.
So those are the challenges, and we are working on them….On the
positive side we have strong components for workers to come here. Our cost of living is about 95% of the National average and the tax benefit to living here puts us about 106% above the National average.
That 10% advantage allows people to buy homes, pay off education and invest in businesses at a greater rate than in many other locations.
There are currently 92 ongoing projects for new companies in the Nashville area. Half of them are relocations and the other half are job expansions. We are growing by about 19,000 jobs per year!
All in all, it was an incredibly positive report. Click here for it in its entirety.
Nashville Vital Signs 2016
Nashville has a unique way of combining political and business forces for problem solving. And our growth is a wonderful problem to have.
It’s still a great time to buy and sell houses. Great rates, a great place to be and an Accomplished Realtor to help you!
Dana Battaglia Homes 