Data / Employer firm births / Tennessee

Employer firm births in Tennessee

Employer firm births in Tennessee was 8,740 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That is down 0.3% from 2022. That is the 17th highest of 51 states in 2023.

2023, count8,740
Change on 2022-0.3%
Rank17th of 51US states ranked
Series high10,6631984
Series low6,1512010
Get an email when a new figure is out or this one is revised.
Keep it in a collection in your library.

Employer firm births in Tennessee, 1978 to 2023

6,0007,0008,0009,00010K11K19781985199219992006201320231978: 9,244 count1979: 8,947 count1980: 7,936 count1981: 7,407 count1982: 7,481 count1983: 8,037 count1984: 10,663 count1985: 9,156 count1986: 9,307 count1987: 9,488 count1988: 9,251 count1989: 9,368 count1990: 8,842 count1991: 8,057 count1992: 8,058 count1993: 8,826 count1994: 8,952 count1995: 9,366 count1996: 9,431 count1997: 9,207 count1998: 8,747 count1999: 8,035 count2000: 7,499 count2001: 7,247 count2002: 7,612 count2003: 7,539 count2004: 8,318 count2005: 8,395 count2006: 8,650 count2007: 8,388 count2008: 7,983 count2009: 6,207 count2010: 6,151 count2011: 6,226 count2012: 6,303 count2013: 6,368 count2014: 6,196 count2015: 6,466 count2016: 6,690 count2017: 7,029 count2018: 6,958 count2019: 7,095 count2020: 7,419 count2021: 8,303 count2022: 8,767 count2023: 8,740 count6,0008,00010K12K19781994201020231978: 9,244 count1979: 8,947 count1980: 7,936 count1981: 7,407 count1982: 7,481 count1983: 8,037 count1984: 10,663 count1985: 9,156 count1986: 9,307 count1987: 9,488 count1988: 9,251 count1989: 9,368 count1990: 8,842 count1991: 8,057 count1992: 8,058 count1993: 8,826 count1994: 8,952 count1995: 9,366 count1996: 9,431 count1997: 9,207 count1998: 8,747 count1999: 8,035 count2000: 7,499 count2001: 7,247 count2002: 7,612 count2003: 7,539 count2004: 8,318 count2005: 8,395 count2006: 8,650 count2007: 8,388 count2008: 7,983 count2009: 6,207 count2010: 6,151 count2011: 6,226 count2012: 6,303 count2013: 6,368 count2014: 6,196 count2015: 6,466 count2016: 6,690 count2017: 7,029 count2018: 6,958 count2019: 7,095 count2020: 7,419 count2021: 8,303 count2022: 8,767 count2023: 8,740 count
count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. Retrieved 2026-10-22, published 2025-09-25.
All 46 values
Periodcount
20238,740
20228,767
20218,303
20207,419
20197,095
20186,958
20177,029
20166,690
20156,466
20146,196
20136,368
20126,303
20116,226
20106,151
20096,207
20087,983
20078,388
20068,650
20058,395
20048,318
20037,539
20027,612
20017,247
20007,499
19998,035
19988,747
19979,207
19969,431
19959,366
19948,952
19938,826
19928,058
19918,057
19908,842
19899,368
19889,251
19879,488
19869,307
19859,156
198410,663
19838,037
19827,481
19817,407
19807,936
19798,947
19789,244

Compared with United States

Place2023
Tennessee8,740
United States508,777

Tennessee compared with nearby places

Alabama: 5,688 countAlaska: 1,222 countArizona: 11,411 countArkansas: 3,866 countCalifornia: 70,055 countColorado: 11,839 countConnecticut: 4,349 countDelaware: 2,248 countDistrict of Columbia: 1,129 countFlorida: 51,518 countGeorgia: 17,841 countHawaii: 1,736 countIdaho: 4,074 countIllinois: 16,056 countIndiana: 8,106 countIowa: 3,717 countKansas: 3,975 countKentucky: 4,803 countLouisiana: 5,480 countMaine: 2,288 countMaryland: 7,811 countMassachusetts: 9,985 countMichigan: 11,814 countMinnesota: 7,296 countMississippi: 3,132 countMissouri: 8,453 countMontana: 2,708 countNebraska: 2,871 countNevada: 5,829 countNew Hampshire: 2,040 countNew Jersey: 14,547 countNew Mexico: 2,617 countNew York: 33,208 countNorth Carolina: 16,322 countNorth Dakota: 1,287 countOhio: 11,994 countOklahoma: 5,463 countOregon: 7,399 countPennsylvania: 14,288 countRhode Island: 1,563 countSouth Carolina: 7,641 countSouth Dakota: 1,605 countTennessee: 8,740 countTexas: 47,108 countUtah: 7,199 countVermont: 1,068 countVirginia: 11,835 countWashington: 12,280 countWest Virginia: 1,532 countWisconsin: 6,856 countWyoming: 1,808 count
  • Under 1,900
  • 1,900 to 3,800
  • 3,800 to 5,800
  • 5,800 to 8,500
  • 8,500 to 14K
  • 14K and over
Employer firm births, 2023, count. Tennessee is outlined. Same source and period for every area shown. Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Rankings

Definition

New employer firms: firms of age zero in March of the year, meaning that every establishment of the firm had its first employees during the previous twelve months. United States: Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics, which calls these firms startups.

A firm counts only when it has employees, so a business without staff is not a birth, and a new branch, merger or change of ownership of an existing firm is not a birth either. Not the same as business_applications (requests for an employer number) or enterprise_births (European business demography). The year is the twelve months to March: 2023 compares March 2022 with March 2023.

Report a problem with this figure

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978 (Employer firm births, Tennessee, 1978 to 2023) [Data set]. Retrieved October 22, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv

MLA 9

Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978, Employer firm births, Tennessee, 1978 to 2023. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/employer-firm-births/tennessee. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. Employer firm births, Tennessee, 1978 to 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 22, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/employer-firm-births/tennessee.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978, Employer firm births, Tennessee, 1978 to 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/employer-firm-births/tennessee (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_employer_firm_births_tennessee_2023,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978: Employer firm births, Tennessee, 1978 to 2023}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-22},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/employer-firm-births/tennessee. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023\_st\_fa.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978: Employer firm births, Tennessee, 1978 to 2023
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/25
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/employer-firm-births/tennessee
Y2  - 2026/10/22
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/employer-firm-births/tennessee.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_fa.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-22.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

What is the latest employer firm births in Tennessee? Cite the source.
get_value {"indicator":"employer_firm_births","place":"us-state-47"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/value?indicator=employer_firm_births&place=us-state-47

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

What is the employer firm births in Tennessee?

Employer firm births in Tennessee was 8,740 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That is down 0.3% from 2022. That is the 17th highest of 51 states in 2023.

Where does this figure come from?

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics by firm age: employer firms of age zero, all covered industries, nation, states and counties from 1978. Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-22.

What was the highest employer firm births in Tennessee?

10,663 in 1984, the highest value since 1978 in this series.

Employer firm births elsewhere in United States

Related statistics for Tennessee

All statistics for Tennessee | Tennessee in figures