Awards
2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008

2008

May 2008

• Tennessee is named winner of Site Selection magazine’s 2007 Competitiveness Award.

April 2008

• A study from the Kaufman Foundation on entrepreneurial activity in the U.S. ranks Tennessee 4th highest in the nation for number of entrepreneurs per capita. 
• Forbes ranks Knoxville, Tenn. at #10 on its list of “Hot Spots”

March 2008

• Tennessee is ranked number three on the annual Governor’s Cup list in Site Selection. 
• Tennessee’s economy is ranked 5th best in the country by the American Legislative Exchange Council. 

February 2008

• Eastman Chemical in Kingsport is named one of Trade & Industry Development’s Corporate Investment and Impact (CiCi) award winners.  

Winter 2008

• Tennessee ranks high on Southern Business & Development Top Tens list, including:
• “Top Major Markets in the South: 1993-2007” - Memphis ranked #3 and Nashville/Davidson/Murfreesboro/Franklin ranked #5.
• “Top Small Towns in the South That Deserve a Second Look” - Dyersburg, Tenn. ranked #4.
• “Top Ten People Who Made a Difference” - ECD Commissioner Matt Kisber included.
• “Top Ten Markets in the South for Advanced Manufacturing” - Knoxville/Oak Ridge ranked #4 and Memphis ranked #5.
• “Top 10 Incredibly Large, Nicely Positioned Distribution Sites in the South You May Not Know About” - CentrePoint Distribution Park in LaVergne and Elam Farms in Murfreesboro named to list.
• “Top 10 Edge Markets You Might Not Know About” - Clarksville and Cleveland/Bradley County named to list.

2007

November 2007

• Tennessee ranks sixth on Site Selection’s Top State Business Climates list.

July 2007

• Tennessee jumps seven spots on the Forbes Best States for Business list, tying for the most improved, biggest mover. 

April 2007

• Forbes ranks Knoxville number five and Nashville number 10 on the Best Places for Business and Careers list.

March 2007

• Federated Department Stores in Portland is named one of Trade & Industry Development’s Corporate Investment and Impact (CiCi) award winners.  

February 2007

• Expansion Management named four Tennessee cities to its ninth annual “America’s Hottest Cities” list: Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville.

Winter 2007

• Tennessee ranks high on Southern Business & Development Top Tens list, including:
• “Top Ten Unbelievable Sites for Automotive Assembly” - Enterprise South Site in Chattanooga ranked #2 and Commerce Park in Clarksville ranked #10. 
• “Ten People Who Made a Difference” – Governor Phil Bredesen included
• “Ten Places in the South for Emerging Growth Industries” – Memphis and Knoxville included.
• “Top Ten Places in the South for the Creative Class” – Nashville included.
• “Top Ten Inland Waterways in the South” – The Tennessee-Tombigbee included.

2006

November 2006

• Site Selection magazine, named Tennessee a Top 5 state in terms of business climate. This marks the second year in a row Tennessee has ranked among the top five states in the nation for its business climate.

July 2006

• The state of Tennessee leads the nation on a per capita basis when it comes to job creation, job retention and capital investment, according to Business Facilities magazine. In the July 2006 issue, Business Facilities ranked Tennessee first with 196 out of a possible 300 point scale with $687.58 in new business capital invested in the state for every resident.

May 2006

• Tennessee’s business climate as well as the number of new job creation and business expansion projects has prompted Site Selection magazine to give the state a second place ranking on its list of the most job-competitive states in the nation. In the publication’s May edition, Tennessee climbed back up the list, jumping from No. 7 in 2005 to No. 2 this year among the magazine’s annual ranking of “Top Ten Competitive States.” The magazine’s editors included job creation and capital investment in their calculations, but also looked at how many local metropolitan areas and small towns from a given state made the annual rankings of Site Selection’s top 100 communities.

• Tennessee has dug its way into a new economic development ranking, this time receiving the Silver Shovel award in Area Development Magazine’s inaugural “Golden Shovel” awards, which recognize states that are successful in job creation and retention efforts. The awards factored direct job creation numbers, new jobs per capita, amount of company investment; number of new facilities (either new to the state or at new locations within the state), and the number of projects creating high value-added jobs.

March 2006

• Tennessee has once again received national recognition by the highly-respected Site Selection magazine, landing the No. 4 spot on the magazine’s “Top 10 States” with the most micropolitan areas and the No. 8 spot on the list by number of projects.

Feb. 2006

• The Southern Growth Policies Board, a bipartisan public policy think tank devoted to strengthening the South's economy, has recognized the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development’s (ECD) revamped Three-Star program as a best practices program and Southern leader in community certification programs.

• FORTUNE Magazine has ranked three Tennessee companies in its 2006 “America’s Most Admired Companies” list. FedEx in Memphis, HCA in Nashville and CBRL Group in Lebanon all made the list. In addition, International Paper and Nissan, who plan to move to Memphis and Nashville respectively, were listed in the ranking.

 Jan. 2006

• For the second year in a row, the Nashville metro area landed at No. 1 on Expansion Magazine’s annual list. Memphis followed at No. 7, with Knoxville trailing close behind at No. 9. Also, making the top 50 was Jackson at No. 42. Tennessee was the only state included on this year’s list with three cities making the Top 10.

Other:

• The Federal Reserve, in its 2006 Beige Book report on the national economy, showed a 2 percent increase in per capita income in Tennessee over the last year.

2005

December 2005

• The relocation of the Nissan North America, Inc.'s Headquarters to Tennessee received recognition as one of Business Facilities magazine's Economic Development biggest deals in 2005.

Tennessee received a host of rankings in 2005 for its economic development efforts. Some of these include:

• No. 1 in debt management by Expansion Management magazine
• No. 9 on Expansion Management magazine 2005 Top Legislative Quotient List
• No. 5 on Site Selection magazine’s 2005 Top Business Climate ranking

No. 16 in the nation for insourcing jobs by the Organization for International Investment (OFII)