KNOXVILLE – The University of Tennessee announced an estimated economic impact of $9.094 billion across the state for fiscal year 2017.
The study includes UT and its campuses located in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Martin, as well as the Health Science Center in Memphis, the Space Institute in Tullahoma and the statewide Institute of Agriculture and Institute for Public Service. The economic impact was calculated in part through research by UT’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research, and used payroll spending and fringe benefits, non-payroll spending, jobs created through system-related spending and tax revenues.
According to the Boyd Center, UT campuses directly contributed $3.5 billion in economic impact in fiscal year 2017. Coupled with previous studies of the direct and indirect economic contributions of the UT Health Science Center, Ag Extension, client-reported impact of the UT Institute for Public Service, and UT Knoxville athletics, UT’s annual impact comes to more than $9 billion. Moreover, this figure does not include the significant role UT has in co-managing Oak Ridge National Laboratory with its more than 4,000 employees and $2.2 billion budget.
“Everywhere you look, UT is making a sizeable impact in the communities it serves,” UT Interim President Randy Boyd said. “While these figures are impressive, our main mission of educating students, helping to establishing a quality labor force and conducting key research is critical to keeping Tennessee’s talent engine fueled for the future.”
Currently, system-wide enrollment is nearly 50,000 students, including both graduate and undergraduate students, and the system employs about 25,000 faculty, staff and student workers.
Key findings for each campus:
UT Knoxville
Economic impact: $1.697 billion
Jobs created: 35,232
UTK Athletics
Economic impact: $150.9 million
Jobs created: 2,929
UT Chattanooga
Economic impact: $353 million
Jobs created: 8,369
UT Martin
Economic impact: $198.2 million
Jobs created: 8,338
UT Health Science Center
Economic impact: $824.5 million
Jobs created: 13,188
UT Space Institute
Economic impact: $15.5 million
Jobs created: 292
UT Institute of Agriculture
Economic impact: $278 million
Jobs created: 7,449
UT System and UT Institute for Public Service
Economic impact: $104.7 million
Jobs created: 1,352
Indirect Impact:
UT Institute for Agriculture Client Reported Impact
Income generated: $637.1 million
Jobs created: 6,505
UT Institute for Public Service Client Reported Impact
Income generated: $1.671 billion
Jobs created: 494
UT Health Science Center Affiliates
Economic Impact: $3.162 billion
Jobs Created: 19,145
To access the full report, please visit tennessee.edu/transparency.
The University of Tennessee is a statewide system of higher education with campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin and Memphis; the UT Space Institute in Tullahoma; the UT Institute of Agriculture with a presence in every Tennessee county; and the statewide Institute for Public Service. The UT system manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory through its UT-Battelle partnership; enrolls about 50,000 students statewide; produces about 10,000 new graduates every year; and represents more than 382,000 alumni around the world.
