by Jon Styf
Tennessee had a record number of business formations and renewals in the first quarter of 2023.
There were 21,516 new business filings and 199,309 businesses firms renewed their active status by filing annual reports, the largest totals in the 25-year history of the Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report from the Secretary of State’s Office and University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center.
“Tennessee’s economy continues to outpace the nation’s and shows no signs of slowing down,” said Don Bruce, director of the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research. “These record-high new business filings in the state, along with strong personal income and stable unemployment rates, are yet another sign of continued economic growth in the coming months.”
There were 9,533 new business entities registered in Tennessee’s four largest counties of Davidson, Shelby, Knox and Hamilton.
The numbers come as Tennessee saw the highest increase in the region in percent change in personal income at 7.8%. Florida (7.8%), Kansas (8.4%) and Iowa (10.1%) were the closest states with higher percent increases between the fourth quarter of 2022 and first quarter of 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Tennessee also saw a 3.5% increase in overall real gross domestic product over that time, which was even with Florida’s 3.5% increase and higher than the rest of the region.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
