2.08 million people live in Nashville, TN, which places it 35th of the 387 metropolitan areas. People, homes, work, and the shape of the local business landscape, drawn from public data.
The metropolitan statistical area covers Nashville-Davidson, Murfreesboro and Franklin.
The typical household income is $85,447, 6 percent above the national figure. Home values tell their own story; here the median is $409,600, 23 percent above the national figure.
The household mix in brief. Of 1,142,143 people in the labor force, 3.7% are unemployed, 2 points below the US share. 40.9% of adults finished a four-year degree or more (5 points above the US share). Nashville, TN has a median age of 36.9 (2 years below the national median). Owners occupy 65.2% of homes, about the same as the US share.
Against the state as a whole, the median income is 23 percent higher than the Tennessee figure, the median home value is 43 percent higher than the Tennessee figure, and the number of businesses per resident is 16 percent denser than the Tennessee figure; see the Tennessee page for the full figures.
By the Census Bureau's count Nashville, TN supports 50,910 employer establishments. That is 24.5 establishments per 1,000 people, in line with the national figure. The table breaks out the categories that spend the most on local advertising; restaurants is the biggest of them at 4,142. The home-services trades that most often advertise locally number 2,316 establishments, a 4.5% share, about the same as the US share.
| Business type | Establishments | Per 100k residents | Share ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 4,142 | 199.2 | 1.10× |
| Physicians' offices | 1,635 | 78.6 | 1.23× |
| Legal services | 951 | 45.7 | 0.86× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 951 | 45.7 | 1.14× |
| Personal care services (all) | 837 | 40.2 | 0.86× |
| Dentists | 787 | 37.8 | 0.95× |
| Landscaping services | 690 | 33.2 | 0.96× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 589 | 28.3 | 0.87× |
| General freight trucking | 577 | 27.7 | 0.81× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 499 | 24 | 0.82× |
| Electrical contractors | 476 | 22.9 | 0.94× |
| Beauty salons | 423 | 20.3 | 0.83× |
| Automobile dealers | 415 | 20 | 1.45× |
| General automotive repair | 403 | 19.4 | 0.78× |
| Child day care services | 346 | 16.6 | 0.69× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 228 | 11 | 0.88× |
| Roofing contractors | 167 | 8 | 1.07× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 166 | 8 | 1.17× |
| Self-storage facilities | 133 | 6.4 | 1.18× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 45 | 2.2 | 0.80× |
Ratio above 1.00: the trade holds a bigger share of the local business base than it does nationally; below 1.00, a smaller one.
The market over-indexes on automobile dealers, physicians' offices, self-storage operators and concrete contractors. At the top of that list, automobile dealers number 415, 1.4 times the US share. On the other side, child day care services, general automotive repair, road and paving contractors and general freight trucking are thin: fewer establishments per resident than the US pattern. Child day care services number just 346, about 69% of the US share, which is room for a well-run operator to be the obvious choice. In line with the country: plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and electrical contractors.
Scaled to residents, restaurants run 199.2 per 100,000, more than physicians' offices or legal services. Restaurants (4,142), physicians' offices (1,635) and legal services (951) are the biggest categories by establishment count. By sector, medical and dental practices are the most over-represented at about the same as the US share; legal services are the least, at about the same as.
Many competitors in automobile dealers, physicians' offices and self-storage operators means the auction is expensive and the map pack is crowded; the winners are the profiles with the freshest reviews and the pages that answer the search precisely. In child day care services, general automotive repair and road and paving contractors, the shortage of local establishments is an opening: the searches are there, the competition for them is not, and a listing that ranks plus a page that converts can own the category quickly. A median age 2 years below the national median tilts the audience toward people who find businesses through maps, social feeds and AI assistants as much as through classic search.
Matched to the data: the services most likely to earn their cost in Nashville, TN.
Ranking for the service-and-town searches without paying per click.
A website that loads fast, states the offer and gets the visitor to the phone.
Service and area pages written to answer real questions.
Being the answer when people ask an AI assistant who to call in Nashville, TN.
Paid search that shows up when someone in Nashville, TN is ready to call, not just browsing.
Keeping the Business Profile complete, current and answered so it earns the map placement.
Nashville, TN has 2.08 million residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 35th of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Nashville, TN is $85,447 (ACS 2024 5-year), above the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 50,910 employer establishments in Nashville, TN (County Business Patterns 2023), or 24.5 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Nashville, TN is $409,600, and 65.2% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), automobile dealers, physicians' offices and self-storage operators have more establishments per resident than the US average; child day care services, general automotive repair and road and paving contractors have fewer in Nashville, TN.
A short call, a free audit of your current listing and site, and a plan built on what actually competes in this market.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.