Comparable baseline
Tennessee at a glance
| Population | 7,315,076 | July 1, 2025; +5.6% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 11,313 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 114,989 | 1,571.9 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 2,716 | 24.0% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 600 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 741,196 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 1,182,437 | 41.5% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 150,129 | 2023 County Business Patterns |
Application rankings cover the 50 states and use unrounded figures. Applications are qualifying EIN filings, not confirmed business openings. Measurement years differ because federal datasets are released on different schedules.
Tennessee’s business applications are growing quickly from a middle-ranked level. Census recorded 11,313 applications in July 2026, up 35.6% from July 2025 and 16.8% from June. The 114,989 applications filed over the full year through July rose 25.6%, the ninth-fastest increase among states.
The state’s per-capita application level was less unusual. Tennessee ranked 25th in July at 154.7 applications per 100,000 residents and 26th over the trailing year. Its defining current feature is momentum, not a top-tier rate.
Tennessee’s regional comparison is even clearer. Its trailing-year growth of 25.6% exceeded the South’s 19.3% median, while its rate of 1,571.9 applications per 100,000 residents fell below the regional median of 1,749.0. It is a faster-growing state within a generally high-rate region.
The 741,000-business headline contains about 104,000 employer firms
The SBA reported 741,196 small businesses in Tennessee using 2022 federal components. Of those, 103,856 were small employer firms and 637,340 were nonemployer businesses with no paid employees.
Nonemployers made up 86.0% of the total, the highest share among states. The distinction is essential: Tennessee’s often-cited small-business total does not describe 741,196 employers, payroll establishments, or storefronts.
Small firms employed 1,182,437 people, or 41.5% of private-sector workers. That share ranked 49th. Tennessee’s published business count is dominated numerically by businesses without paid employees, while larger firms account for a comparatively greater share of payroll employment.
Business applications are qualifying EIN filings, not confirmed openings.
Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville all matter
Davidson County accounted for 526,927 jobs, or 17.7% of employment covered by 2023 County Business Patterns. Shelby County was close at 15.0%, while Knox County held 8.1%. Together, the three metro-core counties represented 40.9% of covered private employment.
No single county reached one-fifth of the total. Tennessee’s employer economy has several substantial centers rather than one dominant county, and statewide averages can obscure the differences among them.
County Business Patterns counted 150,129 employer establishments and about 2.97 million covered private jobs statewide. Nearly six in ten of those jobs were outside the three leading metro-core counties.
Manufacturing employed 357,878 people, with a share 1.36 times the 50-state rate. Management of companies and enterprises was slightly more concentrated at 1.44 times the national share, employing 118,357. The formal NAICS category includes establishments that manage or hold other enterprises; it should not be reduced to a simple count of headquarters.
Official starting points for a Tennessee business
- Plan the process: The state’s new-business page links filing, tax, workshop, and assistance resources.
- File an entity: The Secretary of State provides formation, amendment, annual-report, assumed-name, and foreign-registration forms and fees.
- Register taxes and local licenses: The Department of Revenue explains Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point registration and applicable county or municipal business-license steps.
- Get advice: Tennessee SBDC offers no-cost consulting and training through its statewide network.
Source and calculation note
Application data use the Census July 2026 Business Formation Statistics release. Monthly values are seasonally adjusted; trailing-year totals sum unadjusted applications from August 2025 through July 2026 and compare them with the prior August–July period. Rates use the July 1, 2025 population estimate. SBA measures use 2022 employer and nonemployer components. County and sector figures use 2023 County Business Patterns employment. BizFacts calculated changes, rates, regional medians, ratios, shares, location quotients, and 50-state ranks from sources retrieved September 3, 2026.