February 14, 2024 – “The cities that are performing at the top are really where jobs, wages and the high-tech sector are growing.”
That comment from the Milken Institute’s latest “Best Performing Cities” report emphasizes the strength of a select group of cities, including Nashville. Our city earned a place among the top tier of cities in the report published earlier this month, placing 6th overall among the segment of large metropolitan areas.
The report partitioned more than 400 U.S. metropolitan areas into two segments (large and small) and categorized each city into one of five tiers, based on a combination of short-term and medium-term data. This data measured the metropolitan areas’ performance in 13 categories across three main areas: access to economic opportunities, the performance of the labor market, and the impact of high-tech.
Not only did Nashville finish in the top tier based on overall performance, but Music City received high marks relative to its peers — large metropolitan areas which also finished in Tier 1 — in several of the 13 components. In particular, Nashville finished with the third-highest marks among its peers in 2021-22 job growth (6.7%), 2021-22 wage growth (13.4%) and 2017-22 high-tech GDP growth (70%), as well as a fourth-place finish in high-tech GDP growth (13.9%) for the 2021-22 term.
“These rankings really look at growth,” Milken Institute Research Department senior director and report co-author Maggie Switek said. “What we mean by top-performing is that these are the cities that are growing the fastest.”
Nashville is extremely proud of the recognition that its economic portfolio has generated, and this growth is yet another sign that Music City is ready to flourish even more with the arrival of a Major League Baseball franchise.