62 Percent of Region’s Residents Live and Work in Different Counties

In Our Region, Research, Resource
0

Cumberland Region Tomorrow, a non-profit in Middle Tennessee that focuses on regional quality growth awareness, recently revealed that 62 percent of the region’s workforce live and work in different counties, an increase of almost 18 percentage points from ten years ago when CRT first began tracking this data in 2000. CRT compiled this information using 2009 U.S. Census data records.

62 Percent Work in Different Counties Graph

2009 Census Data

The increased number of residents working across county lines reflects the regional population shift that has occurred over the last decade. CRT attributes increased county inflow/outflow numbers to more Nashville-based workers choosing to live outside metro city limits.

While an increase from 2000 is not surprising, some of the jumps are higher than anticipated. CRT notes that as more of the region’s workforce locates further from main centers of employment, residents increasingly rely on highway infrastructure, affordable gas, and undeveloped land to build new homes. CRT also notes that a projected 900,000 additional residents will call the Middle Tennessee region home by 2035, adding to the region’s already notorious congestion. As noted this year when the Nashville region was ranked by the Brookings Institute and CEO for Cities for having the worst peak hour congestion in the country and having one of the worst accesses to mass transit for its citizens.

Executive Director for Cumberland Region Tomorrow, Bridget Jones said,

“These numbers indicate what we already know. We are a highly connected and dispersed region, but with that come challenges and also opportunities to find better solutions. The fact is the cost of getting to work by car is going up, there’s only so much land to be developed, and local and state governments are continually challenged to keep up with infrastructure costs without raising taxes.”

Jones notes that CRT advocates for quality growth strategies that help create livable and sustainable communities that give people viable choices for housing and transportation regardless of the size of the community.

“One of the strategies we work with communities on is providing choices. Not everyone wants to live downtown, but for those that do, you want to be able to provide quality neighborhoods within the price range of nurses and teachers, and for those that don’t, you want to provide a variety of transportation options that helps to alleviate our region’s congestion and the rising cost of oil.”

Jones said that the Nashville region is already experiencing a change towards more sustainable outcomes. She notes that downtown Nashville is seeing a tide of migration as more citizens are deciding to live closer to work and developers are responding by creating high quality, attractive and affordable neighborhoods. In addition, the Nashville Area MPO and the Middle Tennessee Transit Alliance are both working to implement a regional transportation plan that meets the challenges presented by the region’s high connectivity.

Bridget Jones said, “It’s our goal as an organization to help communities across the region anticipate, plan for, and make the right decision when it comes to growth-related issues that challenge the high quality of life we’ve come to enjoy in Middle Tennessee. We believe that our region is poised for growth that will not only attract more people and more jobs, but also create great communities of all sizes.”