Memphisruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Logistics, air cargo and distribution
FedEx, Memphis International Airport, Nike, Williams-Sonoma, XPO
FedEx's global superhub is here and is the reason Memphis International trades the title of world's busiest cargo airport with Hong Kong year on year. Five Class I railroads, the Mississippi and three interstates meet in the same place, which is why so much of the country's distribution capacity sits within a few miles of the runway.
Medical devices and biosciences
Medtronic Spine, Smith+Nephew, MicroPort Orthopedics, Wright Medical, UTHSC
Memphis has an unusually deep orthopaedic device cluster, seeded by the old Richards Manufacturing and Wright companies, and it remains one of the largest concentrations of spine and joint implant manufacturing anywhere in the world.
Healthcare and paediatric research
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Le Bonheur Children's, Methodist Le Bonheur, Baptist Memorial, Regional One Health
St. Jude's founding principle is that families never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food — funded largely by ALSAC, its Memphis-based fundraising arm. It is the single most recognisable institution in the city and one of the world's leading paediatric cancer research centres.
Corporate headquarters
FedEx, AutoZone, International Paper, First Horizon, Mueller Industries
Several Fortune 500 companies are headquartered here rather than merely present, which gives the city a professional and finance employment base that its reputation does not suggest.
Advanced manufacturing and automotive
Ford BlueOval City, Blue Oval SK, Valero, Nucor
Ford's BlueOval City complex at Stanton, about fifty miles east, is one of the largest automotive investments in US history and is pulling battery and supplier work into the west Tennessee corridor. It is the biggest change to the regional labour market in a generation.
Music, film and tourism
Graceland, Sun Studio, Stax Museum, Royal Studios, Memphis Tourism
Not nostalgia industry alone — Royal Studios is a working commercial studio that recorded Al Green and, more recently, chart records, and the city's music economy still employs engineers and session players rather than only tour guides.
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