Location and Infrastructure

Tennessee is home to 77 airports, including the busiest cargo airport in the world (Memphis International). Besides our six commercial airports, Tennessee businesses are served by 71 general aviation airports and 148 heliports.

In Tennessee, you’ll have access to more than 1,000 miles of navigable waterways, plus 950 miles of inland waterways.

Tennessee has 165 miles of Mississippi River-front property. Of the nation’s inland and navigable waterways, an estimated 75% are within the Mississippi River system, making it the busiest water transportation artery in the country.

Memphis is the second-busiest port on the Mississippi River and the fifth-busiest inland port in the U.S. The International Port of Memphis is the largest stillwater harbor on the Mississippi River and is ice free year-round.

The port of Cates Landing is located on the Mississippi River. It is accessible to barge traffic year-round on a 9,000 linear foot slack-water harbor with the port’s 400-acre land side development constructed above the 100-year flood plain. The port of Cates Landing is in an Opportunity Zone and a Foreign Trade Zone.

Tennessee is part of the four-state region of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, which provides the state access of the Gulf of Mexico harbors and international markets. The waterway links to 4,500 miles of navigable waterways serving 23 states throughout the South and Midwest.

Tennessee ranks first in favorable utility rates in 2019, according to Area Development.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is the nation’s largest public power provider, TVA delivers reliable and competitively priced electric power that gives businesses and families more opportunity to prosper.

• The TVA service area in Tennessee covers about 42,028 square miles, about 49 percent of TVA’s territory and 99.7 percent of Tennessee. This includes an electricity service area of 42,143 square miles and a watershed management area of 22,514 square miles.
• In fiscal year 2020, TVA sold over 91.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to 61 municipals and 22 cooperatively owned utilities that distribute power in Tennessee.
• Since 2000, the TVA system has delivered 99.999 percent transmission reliability.
• TVA’s power rates are 17% lower than the national average.
• TVA has made the strategic decision to continually increase generation capacity through low-cost, carbon-free sources. To that end, TVA is continuing to expand its nuclear resources.

Telecommunications

• 93.5% of Tennesseans live in census blocks where at least one provider offers broadband according to the Federal Communication Commission’s Fourteenth Broadband Deployment Report.
• The recently enacted Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act (TBAA) aims to spread broadband access to more Tennesseans while promoting practices that increase deployment and encourage broadband adoption. The legislation established the Broadband Accessibility Grant Program providing funding for deployment to unserved homes and businesses. Over $59.1 million has been awarded during the program’s first four years to provide service to an estimated 83,500 unserved Tennesseans across the state.  The TBAA also provides a tax credit to private service providers totaling $15 million over three years ($5 million per year) based on the purchase of broadband equipment used to provide broadband access in our most economically challenged counties.
• For more information on all of Tennessee’s efforts to close the broadband gap including the Broadband Accessibility Grant, please visit tn.gov/broadband.

• #4 for Best Infrastructure – CNBC ranked Tennessee as No. 4 for Best Infrastructure in its rankings of America’s Top States for Business (2021).
• Tennessee ranks No. 2 in the  nation for employment per 1,000 jobs in transportation and material moving occupations (2021).
• WalletHub ranked Tennessee No. 5 for Best State to Drive in and No. 1 for “Cost of Ownership and Maintenance” in their 2021 rankings.

From the terminal at the International Port of Memphis, shipments can reach 132 metropolitan markets, representing over 60 percent of the U.S. population, overnight.