UT’s Economic Impact Tops $9 Billion

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.

To access the full report, visit tennessee.edu/transparency

 
To access the full report, visit tennessee.edu/transparency