KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — What will Tennessee's population look like in 2040? Researchers are asking themselves the same question.
New data from the University of Tennessee's Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research shows almost 8 million people will call the state home by that year. To put that into perspective, that is the same number of people who live in New York City. Census data shows around 7 million people currently live in the state.
The data also showed that Tennessee will be more racially and ethnically diverse.
"It helps create a vibrant environment for business and our community," said Claudia Caballero, President and CEO of Centro Hispano.
Centro Hispano of East Tennessee helps connect Hispanic people with resources for employment, education, health care and entrepreneurship. It also served our region for 19 years.
"Our community is majority-Mexican in East Tennessee and they're majority Central Americans," Caballero said.
Job opportunities, safety and families are some of the factors why Hispanic people move to the region, according to Caballero.
"Yes there are many immigrants but they are also many community members who were born and raised in the United States," Caballero said.
The research center said 60% of the state's population growth will come from Hispanic people, Black or African-American people or people of other races.
"We do expect there to be true growth both among the Hispanic population and people with two or more races as well," said Matthew Harris with UT's Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research.
Harris said Tennessee's Hispanic communities were undercounted in the 2020 census, and the Census and state leaders are working to get a clear count.
"Census is working to get those number clear up and get the true population," Harris said.
According to the data, around 450,000 Hispanic people called Tennessee home in 2022, with that number expected to be up to 750,000 people by 2040.
"This allows for a greater investment for the Latino community," Caballero said. "On what we are already doing."