Data from the Tennesse Secretary of State’s Office shows that new business filings in Tennessee for the fourth quarter of 2022 were the second highest in the state’s history.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, 16,780 new entities were filed in the state, bringing the total number of business entities operating in the Volunteer State to 485,995, according to the Tennessee Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report.
In 2021, the largest number of new entity filings ever occurred during the fourth quarter, resulting in a decline of 2 percent in the number of filings over the same period in 2022, according to the data. However, filings this quarter are up 58.2 percent compared to pre-pandemic filings in Q4 of 2019.
Davidson County had the highest number of filings in Q4, followed by Shelby, Knox, and Hamilton counties. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, filings in these four most-populated counties decreased by 0.9 percent; however, Knox County filings increased by 4.4 percent, according to the report.
“Tennessee is proud to have such a robust business environment,” Secretary of State Tre Hargett said in a statement. “Our state leaders are committed to preserving and strengthening our business climate, so Tennessee remains a place where businesses and families can succeed.”
Quarter-over-quarter, fourth quarter filings were down compared to third quarter’s record-setting number of 18,752 new filings.
The Tennessee Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report provides an overview of the state’s economy every quarter based on data from the Secretary of State’s Division of Business Services. The report is published through a partnership between the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office and the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
“Tennessee continues to be a place where businesses thrive, with nearly a half million now registered in the state—the most since we began tracking in 1993,” Don Bruce, director of the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research said in a statement. “This strengthens the state’s tax revenues and puts Tennesseans in a good position to weather the effects of inflation.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
