Nashville Tops the Charts Once Again

The COVID-19 pandemic generated significant upheaval on nearly every major industry across every corner of the world. But the strength of an industry — and the geographic areas which rely on them — comes from its ability to adapt to difficult shifts in the market and respond in a positive manner.?

Despite all the stress on Music City’s economy in the early stages of the pandemic, a recent study shows Nashville as the leader in pandemic recovery among the nation’s 26 largest downtown markets.

Philadelphia-based Center City District’s “Downtowns Rebound: The Data-Driven Path to Recovery” report examined how well downtown markets across the country have demonstrated an ability to recover after such a drastic disruption, focusing on a comparison of resident, worker and visitor populations from Q2 2019 against Q2 2023.?

Nashville produced a 100% recovery rate, joining San Jose as the only two cities?whose downtown markets produced at least a 90% recovery rate.?

“I have a lot of reasons to think that downtown Nashville is No. 1, but it’s certainly nice for it to be verified and reinforced in the company of so many great American cities,” Tom Turner, president and CEO of the Nashville Downtown Partnership, said in a news release. “Our property owners and businesses, along with Metro government, the Convention & Visitors Corp, Chamber [of Commerce], and so many others work together to build a clean, safe, active and attractive downtown.”?

Unsurprisingly, Nashville was also No. 1 in visitor recovery with a 103% mark, demonstrating that downtown Nashville is actually welcoming more visitors than it had before the start of the pandemic. Music City also ranked No. 2 in non-resident worker recovery, joining San Antonio as the only two downtown markets with at least an 80% rate of workers who live outside the core downtown area returning?to work in downtown.?

"All of our cities have had to work extremely hard to bring back vitality and jobs to our downtowns” Paul R. Levy, president and CEO of Center City District in Philadelphia, said in the release. “Out of the 26 largest downtowns we looked at across the United States, Nashville should be really proud to rank No. 1 in recovery.”?

Combine this recovery with the numerous indicators of growth throughout the Midstate, and the presence of Nashville among the nation’s strongest markets grows clearer by the day.?