NEWS

NASHVILLE SHOWS RECORD GROWTH IN 2020 CENSUS

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

In recent decades it has been appropriate to measure the size of America’s largest cities by the size of their Metropolitan Statistical areas (MSAs). This is because our largest cities tend to spill over into increasingly large metropolitan areas. A striking example is the Atlanta MSA, which in 2020 sprawled over 28 counties.

In Tennessee, the Nashville MSA, the state’s most heavily populated, included these 12 counties: Davidson, Cannon, Cheatham, Dickson, Macon, Maury, Rutherford, Smith, Sumner, Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson. The Memphis MSA was the second largest. In 2020, it included Fayette, Shelby and Tipton Counties in Tennessee; DeSoto, Marshall, Tate and Tunica in Mississippi; and Crittenton in Arkansas. Chattanooga has six counties in its MSA. They include Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie in Tennessee; and Dade, Catoosa, and Walker County in North Georgia. The Knoxville MSA includes Anderson, Knox, Blount and Union Counties while the Clarksville MSA includes Montgomery and Stewart Counties in Tennessee and Christian and Trigg Counties in Kentucky.

The largest MSA in Tennessee in 2020 was the Nashville MSA, which was the 36th largest in the country. It grew by 20.86 percent since 2010.

Only two MSAs in the country that were larger than Nashville grew faster between 2010 and 2020: the Austin, Texas, MSA, which is the 28 th largest in the country and grew by 33.04 percent and the Orlando, Fla., MSA, which is the 22nd largest in the country and grew by 25.25 percent.