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UTK has $1.7 billion impact on Tennessee, report finds

It's up by $100 million since 2015.

The University of Tennessee released a report Monday that found the university generated $1.7 billion in annual income and more than 35,000 jobs in Tennessee, up by $100 million since the last report in 2015.

The school's economic impact on the state has grown by more than $785 million in the last 10 years because of university-related spending on payroll and benefits, goods and services, and from students and visitors, as well as creating sources of state and local tax revenue, according to the report.

“The flow of spending through the university, our students, and our visitors has a significant and positive ripple effect throughout the community and state,” Interim Chancellor Wayne T. Davis said in a news release. “But these numbers capture only a fraction of what UT contributes to the state. Our biggest impact is educating our citizens and preparing Tennessee’s future labor force.”

The university directly employs more than 10,000 people, between its faculty, staff, and students and paid them $575 million in salaries and benefits in 2017, the release said.

Other spending for things like construction, utilities, equipment, supplies, and maintenance repairs was responsible for 42 percent of in-state university spending equaling $636 million, according to the release. Current campus construction projects are worth more than $1 billion and are either undergoing design, planning, or construction.

The report's numbers do not account for the economic impact graduates and their educations have on the state's workforce and economy.

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