Cookeville, Tennessee - Economy

Economy

• Known as the "Hub of the Upper Cumberlands," approximately 25,000 people travel to Cookeville daily to work, shop, or attend school.
• Cookeville's 2005 retail sales total of $1.16 billion was a 12.4% increase from the 2004 retail sales total. The state's increase was 7.86%.
• The December 2006 unemployment rate was 4.7%, down from a high of 6.8% in August 2006 after the closing of two large manufacturing facilities with 1300 employees combined.
• Manufacturing is the largest sector in Cookeville's economy with over 100 plants and 8,000 employees. In 2006 Oreck manufacturing moved their Long Beach, Mississippi plant to Cookeville after Hurricane Katrina. Oreck employs about 500 people and is a prominent business in the region. Also in 2006, after nearly 30 years of operation in Cookeville, Russell Stover Candies laid off 900 employees. The former Russell Stover manufacturing facility is now used as a warehouse for candy and employs 30 people.
• Even with the loss of 900 Russell Stover and 400 TRW manufacturing jobs, overall employment in Cookeville increased by over 1200 between August 2006 and March 2007, resulting in 33,510 jobs in Cookeville and a March 2007 unemployment rate of 4.5 percent.
• With 13% of the workforce, retail trade employs about 4,200 people and is the second largest sector in the Cookeville economy.
• Health care workers comprise about 12% of the work force with 3,840 employees.
• Education is another major sector with nearly 2,000 employees at Tennessee Technological University and the public school system.
• In June 2006 Cookeville banks had $1.215 billion in deposits, an increase of 10.2 percent over June 2005. In June 2006 there were 30 bank branches in Cookeville, an increase of three over June 2005. Although this is a significant number for the region, this is by far the lowest in the Upper Cumberland area.
• The trucking company Averitt Express is based in Cookeville.

Source: Tennessee Department of Labor and FDIC