Obion County: The Right Place for Business

Obion County is the right place for business for many reasons. We will put more than 35,000 vehicles past your front door the day you open. You'll be building your business base starting with a loyal group of Obion County residents that love our community and all it has to offer. Many of our residents may already be your customers at one of your other business locations in west Tennessee or western Kentucky, and they'd just love to shop at your business more often in their own hometown. Obion County is growing. Union City was recently designated as the center of a new "Micropolitan Area" by the U.S. Census. The new I-69 corridor will link our community with the major North American trade route, and there are some excellent sites available for your business in close proximity to two major interchanges of this new interstate. So you can not only take advantage of the existing traffic but enjoy significant customer growth in the future as the I-69 corridor is completed.

According to the most recent Woods & Poole Economics Report for 2004, Obion County has 32,600 residents and the recent U.S. Census & ESRI data shows that our trade area exceeds 386,628 people. Because of our proximity to Reelfoot Lake, Land between the Lakes, the Dixie Gun Works Museum and other local attractions, we continue to enjoy a growing tourist population as well. Obion County has experienced a significant increase in per capita income; Woods & Poole data indicates that current per capita income is $27,290. Retail sales have also increased as our economy has grown, with total retail sales in our trade area over $959 million in 2003.

The Union City trade area includes Obion, Lake, Weakley, Dyer, and a portion of Gibson, Henry and Carroll Counties in Tennessee; and Fulton, Hickman, and a portion of Graves County in Kentucky. Micropolitan Areas represent one of the fastest growing segments of the American marketplace. People from both urban and suburban communities as well as more rural environments are moving to these areas in record numbers. The Obion County trade area has transitioned from a region whose primary economic base was agricultural to a region that is much more economically diversified.

Micropolitan areas offer the conveniences of metropolitan areas with the advantage of lower real estate costs, less traffic congestion, and a better quality of life. Highway improvements within the trade area as well as the construction of I-69 will bring even more economic development to Obion County.

Union City Area Population
Population 0 - 25 miles 25 - 50 miles
2000 90,217 383,639
2003 90,313 384,631
2008 90,882 386,628
Major Employers in Obion County
Employer # of Employees
Goodyear Tire and Rubber 2,500
Tyson Foods, Inc. 1,400
Kohler 540
Lennox Hearth Products 500
Baptist Memorial-Union City 450
Wal-Mart 365
CBK, Ltd. 250
Williams Sausage 220
Plastech 200

Obion County is a great place to grow your business. Other companies have found our pro-business attitude, excellent transportation network, dedicated workforce, and quality business services to be an important asset in their growth. With the growth of our existing businesses, the median income in Union City is above the Tennessee average and that trend is expected to continue.

To continue to enhance our community's economic prosperity we are expanding our airport, evaluating a mega industrial park, developing a new business park, and participating in a major new river port project. The Northwest Tennessee Regional Port Facility will open in 2007 at Cates Landing, providing Obion County with one of the strongest intermodal transportation networks in the country. The Everett Stewart Airport runway will be expanded to 7,000 linear feet. This expansion will allow the airport to handle over 86% of the nation's aircraft, an increase from its current ability to service only 25% of the airway traffic.

Recently the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget that includes $14 million for I-69 right-of-way acquisition through Obion County; this project is a reality. Interstate 69 will bring jobs, greater trade opportunities with Canada and Mexico, more tourists, and greater regional traffic flow. It has major implications for economic development in Obion County over the next quarter century.