Tennessee's dominant city (Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga: employment, construction, safest)

[DefaultAlias]

Is Nashville the dominant city in Tennessee? A friend of mine suggested Memphis was and I disagree. Want your feedback

[alleycat]

I thought Memphis was the dominant city in Mississippi?

(I'm just kidding, don't throw things!)

Honestly, I'm not sure there is a dominant city. I mean, it's not like the old Greek city-state thing where cities attacked each other. Nashville is prominent in some things, Memphis in others, and Knoxville and Chattanooga have their fans as well. I know most of Tennessee doesn't follow Memphis's lead, but then they don't follow Nashville's either. Of course, Nashville is the political capital and that does have some importance.

[kpellatiro]

We really weren't going to loose this on a Nashville forum though, right

[JMT]

Originally Posted by DefaultAlias

Is Nashville the dominant city in Tennessee? A friend of mine suggested Memphis was and I disagree. Want your feedback

Memphis used to be Tennessee's dominant city, but those days are long gone. I would not hesitate to say that Nashville is Tennessee's dominant city. Not only is it the largest metropolitan area in the state, but half of the state's employment growth is in the Nashville area. Nashville also has more skyscrapers, more malls, more freeways, more jobs, more construction, more TV and radio stations, etc., than any other area of the state.

Only the Knoxville metro area is experiencing growth similar to Nashville's, and it's still considerably slower than Nashville's growth. Otherwise, Memphis, Chattanooga, and the Tri Cities are languishing compared to Nashville.

Don't get me wrong, I love Memphis and would move back there in a heartbeat if I had the chance, but its days of glory are long gone.

BTW, I agree with alleycat: Memphis is the most dynamic city in Mississippi!

[MTbound]

Memphis also has the highest rate of syphillis and the second highest rate of chylamidia IN THE NATION according to the CDC.

[john1963]

memphis also has the highest % of people getting social security checks

[hew2a]

Let's not forget Memphis isn't the safest city either. They pretty much have a guaranteed spot each week on A&E's show "First 48".

(oh couldn't resist).

One luv Nashville!