1) Scale and the right unit of analysis
Most economic data is tracked for the Memphis metro area (Memphis, TN–MS–AR MSA) because jobs and supply chains spill across Tennessee–Mississippi–Arkansas daily. The metro’s GDP was about $102.9B in 2023.
2) The core engine: a logistics-and-distribution hub economy
Memphis is structurally built around moving goods fast—by air, road, rail, and river.
- Air cargo: Memphis International is North America’s #1 cargo airport; in 2024 it handled ~3.75 million metric tons.
- FedEx World Hub effect: FedEx describes Memphis World Hub as the largest sort facility in its global network, with ~13,000 team members and the capability to process ~484,000 packages per hour.
- River port: The Port of Memphis reports 8.2M short tons of waterborne cargo handled in 2022 and cites $6.25B in annual total economic output tied to port activity.
This logistics spine pulls in (and grows) warehousing, trucking, packaging, cold-chain, inventory management, and “back office” operations.
3) Employment mix: what people actually do for work
Using BLS payroll employment for July 2025 (total nonfarm ~654.5k jobs):
- Trade, transportation & utilities: 191.6k (~29.3%) — the biggest block (the logistics signature).
- Education & health services: 97.9k (~15.0%) — hospitals, clinics, research, higher ed.
- Professional & business services: 89.2k (~13.6%) — corporate services, admin, staffing, facilities, etc.
- Government: 82.5k (~12.6%) — city/county/state/federal and public schools.
- Leisure & hospitality: 64.3k (~9.8%) — tourism, food, entertainment.
- Manufacturing: 39.8k (~6.1%) — still meaningful, but smaller than the logistics + services blocks.
(Percent shares above are simple calculations from the BLS job counts.)
4) Secondary pillars that stabilize (and sometimes constrain) the hub
- Healthcare & life sciences: A large employment base (see above) plus globally visible research institutions and hospital systems.
- Tourism & culture economy: Memphis Travel reports 13.1M visitors (2024) and an annual domestic-visitor impact of ~$4B, with substantial local tax receipts.
- Corporate HQ / management functions: Memphis hosts major corporate offices (which matters because HQ jobs tend to be higher-wage and “sticky” when they stay).
5) Labor-market snapshot (what it feels like on the ground)
- Unemployment: Memphis area ~5.4% (Jul 2025) vs ~4.6% U.S. in the same chart.
- Pay level: Average weekly wage (all industries) shown as $1,314 for the area vs $1,507 U.S. (Q4 2024).
- Mean hourly wage: $27.96 (Memphis area) vs $32.66 (U.S.) (May 2024).
A classic pattern in hub economies: lots of jobs, but wage pressure downward in large parts of the distribution/service stack unless the region keeps upgrading skills and moving into higher-value functions (automation ops, analytics, engineering, healthcare specialization, etc.).
6) The strategic storyline in one sentence
Memphis is a tri-state “throughput” economy: it creates value by being an unusually efficient platform for moving, sorting, storing, repairing, packaging, and servicing goods (plus a strong healthcare and tourism layer)—and its long-run upside depends on capturing higher-margin work on top of that platform (automation, cold-chain/biologistics, advanced manufacturing, and specialized medical/research growth).
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The Memphis Times
www.memphistimes.org
Published: Wednesday, December 17, 2025, (12/17/2025) at 7:56 P.M.
[Note]
We don’t guarantee the accuracy of the numbers in the article above because they were created by AI. Those who need the accuracy have to verify the accuracy by themselves.
[Source/Notes]
This article was written/produced using AI ChatGPT. Written/authored entirely by ChatGPT itself. The editor made no revisions. The model used is GPT-5.1 Thinking (extended thinking enabled). Images were were made/produced using both ChatGPT and Gemini.)
[Prompt History/Draft]
1. “Provide an overview of the economic structure of the city of Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States.”
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(The End).