Nashville is emerging as a national economic powerhouse, Barron's reports

Nashville is one of four Sunbelt cities to emerge as major economic hubs for the United States, signaling a possible changing of the guard, according to a new article in Barron's magazine.

Between the lines: Cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., have stood as pillars of the national economy.

• "Those four legacy metro areas are being joined and, to an extent, eclipsed by a cohort of new, faster-growing power centers such as Houston with its energy economy, Dallas and its diversified base, Nashville with healthcare and tech, and Miami as a burgeoning financial center and gateway to Latin America," Barron's reporter Andy Serwer writes.

Of note: Nashville's job growth since 2020 has well outpaced the national average, the article points out.

• The health care sector leads the way with 500 companies, including 17 public companies.
• As tech companies expanded outside of Silicon Valley, Nashville benefited, landing corporate headquarters and billions of dollars in investment, from Oracle, Amazon and Meta Platforms.

Zoom in: The booming economic growth has created a quandary for Metro as the city's transportation and housing infrastructure have failed to keep up.

Zoom out: The ramifications of the nation's economic power shift are unknown, Serwer writes.

• "As economic power flows to the middle of the country, it could make the U.S. stronger and more diversified, like a company that makes successful strategic acquisitions. Or it could further divide the U.S. along economic, political, and geographic lines."

Go deeper: Read the full Barron's article (subscription required)