Here are Nashville’s Largest Employers:

• Vanderbilt University & Medical Center

• Nissan North America

• HCA Holdings, Inc.

• Saint Thomas Health Services

• Community Health Systems

• Randstad

• Asurion

• The Kroger Company

• National Healthcare Corporation

• Shoney’s

Over the last economic cycle, Nashville has been ranked on many "top" lists from Small Business Friendliness to Best Cities for Young Workers.

Forbes ranked Nashville number 4 behind San Francisco, San Jose, and Orlando in the nation for job growth. 

Employment within metro Nashville has increased 20% since 2009 and the city's economy has consequently passed the $100 billion mark.

Here are the companies leading the pack for employment in the Music City.

1. Vanderbilt University & Medical Center (27,340) 

• Vanderbilt tops off the list with a staggering 27,340 employees in addition to its 12,600+ students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. The behemoth owns more than 392 buildings on 330 acres throughout Middle Tennessee for a real estate portfolio of 21+ million square feet (that's over 372 football fields worth of space).

2. Nissan North America (10,750)

• Nissan announced it's corporate relocation to the Cool Springs suburb of Nashville in 2005 and now occupies over 880 acres and 6.5 million square feet. Janet Miller, then head of Economic Development at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, hailed Nissan's arrival as "probably one of the most important milestones [the Chamber] ever accomplished."

3. HCA Holdings Inc. (10,613)

• Founded in Nashville, The Hospital Corporation of America is one of the largest for-profit healthcare providers in the world, managing over 165 hospitals, 115 surgery centers, and recently constructed its new 330,000 square foot headquarters at Capitol View on Charlotte Pike in the Gulch.

4. Saint Thomas Health Services (6,243)

• Saint Thomas is another Nashville-founded business still headquartered in the Music City. At 113 years old, Saint Thomas has grown to 9 hospitals/surgery centers in Nashville, 89 worldwide, and is a part of the largest not-for-profit health organization in the world.

5. Community Health Systems (4,700) 

• CHS is a Fortune 500 company based in Franklin, Tennessee, with $18.6 billion in revenue. Unlike HCA, whose focus is in major metropolitan areas, CHS found its niche in rural hospitals and has 160 hospitals across the US.

6. Randstad (4,557)

• Randstad is the second largest HR services provider in the world and places hundreds of thousands of workers in temporary or permanent jobs annually.

7. Asurion (3,600)

• Asurion is a privately-held company focused on providing insurance for consumer electronics, such as smartphones, tablets, appliances, and more. The company generates revenue in multiple countries and has more than 19,000 employees in 49 office locations.

8. The Kroger Company (3,523) 

• Having acquired Harris Teeter in recent years, Kroger has expanded to 17+ locations in the Greater Nashville Area. Kroger is one of the biggest grocery stores in the United States and occupies over 200 million square feet of retail space.

9. National healthcare corporation (3,250)

• NHC is the nation’s oldest publicly traded senior health care company, founded in 1971. Based in Murfreesboro, the corporation operates 75 skilled nursing centers, 35 homecare agencies, 24 assisted living communities, and 5 retirement communities.

10. Shoney's (3,000) 

• Founded in 1947, Shoney’s, a chain of 230 restaurants, stretches across the southeastern US. Although the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000, it has continued to grow under the direction of David Davoudpour and is expanding into mall locations with full bars.

About The Author:

Tyler Cauble, Founder & President of The Cauble Group, is a commercial real estate broker and investor based in East Nashville. He’s the best selling author of Open for Business: The Insider’s Guide to Leasing Commercial Real Estate and has focused his career on serving commercial real estate investors as a board member for the Real Estate Investors of Nashville.