Why Nashville Is a Strong Market to Buy or Sell a Business
Updated October 2026 with sourced figures.
Nashville gives a business owner a large and growing local population, a wide mix of industries, and big employers that shape the local workforce. Those are useful facts whether you are thinking about selling a business or buying one. They are background, though, not a promise about any one sale. Here is what the public numbers say and what they mean in plain terms.
What the public numbers show
- Population: The Nashville metro area (Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin) had an estimated 2,021,825 residents in July 2020 and 2,150,553 in July 2024, an increase of about 6.4%. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 metro area population estimates (released March 2025).
- Health care: The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce says health care is the region’s largest and fastest-growing industry, with more than 900 health care companies in Middle Tennessee and 167,916 direct jobs. Source: Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Health Care page, which cites the Nashville Health Care Council’s 2025 Economic Impact Report.
- Large local employers: The same Chamber page lists Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt at 31,995 employees and HCA Healthcare at 27,700 employees in the Nashville area. Source: Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Health Care page, which cites the Nashville Business Journal Book of Lists.
These figures are estimates published by the sources above, and they will change. Check the source for the latest numbers.
Why those facts matter to a seller or buyer
- Customers: A larger local population can mean more potential customers for service, trade and retail businesses. It does not mean any particular business is growing. Buyers still look at that company’s own sales and earnings.
- Labor: A mix of large employers and many industries gives a business a bigger pool of people to hire from. It also means competing with those employers for workers. A buyer will ask whether your key people will stay and how much the business depends on you.
- Buyer interest: A growing area can draw people who want to own a local business. That is not a guarantee that your business will sell, or at what price. Buyers decide based on the books, the earnings and the terms.
- Buyers weighing a purchase: Growth in the area can also mean more competition for customers and staff. It is one more reason to review the financial records and ask questions before making an offer.
What this means for an owner considering a sale
Local conditions are the backdrop. Your business’s earnings set the starting point. For most owner-operated companies, buyers begin with Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE), the cash the business produces for one working owner after normal add-backs. How We Value an Owner-Operated Business walks through how that number is built, and Business Valuation in Nashville explains how it turns into a starting range.
If you are earlier in the thinking, How to Sell a Business in Nashville covers what to have ready, what the process looks like, and why a sale is a confidential process rather than a public listing. There is no honest fixed timeline for a sale. It varies with the books, the price and the buyer.
How BridgePoint works with owners
BridgePoint Business Group is a business brokerage in Nashville and the exclusive BBDG Nashville affiliate. We keep the process confidential and stay involved through buyer review, diligence and closing. Depending on whether you are selling or buying, that can include:
- An SDE-based starting range so you know what the books support before going to market.
- Confidential outreach to screened buyers, without alerting employees or competitors.
- Negotiation support on terms, whether you are buying or selling.
For a seller, that can mean understanding what the books support before going to market. For a first-time buyer, it can mean knowing which questions to ask before making an offer.
A next step
If you want a directional starting range, the free valuation calculator gives one. It is a starting range, not an appraisal and not a guaranteed price.
By Michael DeVault, business broker and BBDG Nashville affiliate at BridgePoint Business Group.
