# Nashville, Tennessee (Somali community)

> Somalis in Nashville and Middle Tennessee: Census counts, 1990s refugee arrivals, taxi drivers and Tyson workers, mosques, cafes and community groups.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/diaspora/nashville/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

The US Census Bureau's 2020–2024 survey counted 2,648 Somali people in the Nashville metro area and 3,117 in Tennessee ([US Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, B02025, via Census Reporter](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=31000US34980); [Tennessee](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=04000US47)). Somali refugees began settling in Nashville in the 1990s ([Cornfield, Vanderbilt University, 2014](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)).

## How many Somalis live in Nashville?

The American Community Survey (ACS) for 2020–2024 counted 2,623 people in Nashville-Davidson who named Somali as a race group, alone or with another ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025, Nashville-Davidson](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US4752006)). That is almost the whole metro count. The margin of error is about 1,028, so the true figure is uncertain ([Census Reporter](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US4752006)).

By ancestry, the survey counted 1,822 in Nashville-Davidson, and 1,190 people there were born in Somalia ([ACS 2020–2024, B04006](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B04006&geo_ids=16000US4752006); [B05006](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B05006&geo_ids=16000US4752006)). Tennessee ranks 13th among US states by the race count ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025, by state](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=040|01000US)).

Older local figures were higher. In 2009, the Associated Press reported an estimated 3,500 Somalis and Sudanese together in Nashville ([AP via Dawn, February 2009](https://dawn.com/news/342479/population-of-refugees-grows-in-music-city)).

## How did Somalis come to Nashville?

Nashville's faith-based resettlement agencies and 1990s job growth drew refugees from many countries, including Somalia ([Cornfield, 2014](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)). The foreign-born share of Nashville residents rose from 2.5% in 1990 to 10.1% in 2001 ([Cornfield](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)).

Many families came after years in Kenyan camps. One Somali family that runs a Nashville cafe fled in 1993 and spent three years in camps before arriving in 1996 ([WPLN, December 2023](https://wpln.org/post/at-the-horn-nashvilles-immigrant-communities-find-connection-and-belonging/)). Nearly 3,100 refugees of all origins resettled in Nashville from 2002 to early 2009 ([AP via Dawn, 2009](https://dawn.com/news/342479/population-of-refugees-grows-in-music-city)).

An agency leader said in 2009 that services, affordable housing and factory jobs made Middle Tennessee a point of entry ([AP via Dawn](https://dawn.com/news/342479/population-of-refugees-grows-in-music-city)). In the 2000s, Nashville agencies also helped Tyson Foods recruit Somali refugees for its poultry plant in Shelbyville, 55 miles south ([Cornfield, 2014](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)).

New arrivals are now few. In the 2025 fiscal year, 38 refugees from Somalia were placed in Tennessee ([Refugee Processing Center, FY2025 arrivals by state](https://www.rpc.state.gov/documents/FY%202025%20Arrivals%20by%20State%20and%20Nationality%20as%20of%2030%20Sep%202025.pdf)).

## Work and business

**Taxi drivers.** Somalis were the largest single ethnic group among Nashville's roughly 600 licensed taxi drivers ([Cornfield, 2014](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)). A 2008 survey of 300 drivers found average net pay under $12,000 a year, for seven 14-hour days a week ([Cornfield](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)). Drivers formed the Nashville Metro Taxi Drivers Alliance in 2007, and a Somali driver-owned company, Tenn-Cab, won approval in 2013 ([Cornfield](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)).

**Poultry workers.** About 250 of 1,200 workers at Tyson's Shelbyville plant were Somali ([Cornfield, 2014](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)). In 2007, their union contract named Eid al-Fitr a paid holiday, which the union called a first in the US ([Cornfield](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)). After a local backlash, Labor Day was restored and Eid became an optional paid personal day ([Cornfield](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)).

**Shops and cafes.** The Horn, a Somali family's coffee shop on Murfreesboro Pike, opened in 2014 after the family's sambusa business began in 2009 ([WPLN, 2023](https://wpln.org/post/at-the-horn-nashvilles-immigrant-communities-find-connection-and-belonging/)). It serves Somali chai and has become a meeting place for many communities in South Nashville ([WPLN](https://wpln.org/post/at-the-horn-nashvilles-immigrant-communities-find-connection-and-belonging/)).

The Somali diaspora as a whole sent US$1.73 billion home in 2023, a World Bank-based figure ([Minnesota Reformer, March 2026](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/03/10/feds-making-it-harder-for-immigrants-to-send-money-to-family/)). Since 1 January 2026, a 1% US tax applies to cash-funded transfers abroad ([Minnesota Reformer](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/03/10/feds-making-it-harder-for-immigrants-to-send-money-to-family/)).

## Who speaks for the community?

The Somali Community Center of Nashville later became the Center for Refugees and Immigrants of Tennessee ([AP via Dawn, 2009](https://dawn.com/news/342479/population-of-refugees-grows-in-music-city)). The centre ran education programmes in Shelbyville to improve relations between Somali newcomers and local residents ([Cornfield, 2014](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)).

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, founded in 2001, took part in the taxi drivers' founding meeting and in the Shelbyville programmes ([TIRRC](https://tnimmigrant.org/press/release-tennessee-leaders-condemn-the-trump-administrations-escalating-anti-immigrant-and-racist-discriminatory-policies-and-rhetoric); [Cornfield](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf)). In December 2025, it and faith leaders condemned national attacks on Somali Americans as anti-Muslim and anti-Black ([TIRRC, December 2025](https://tnimmigrant.org/press/release-tennessee-leaders-condemn-the-trump-administrations-escalating-anti-immigrant-and-racist-discriminatory-policies-and-rhetoric)).

In 2003, a mosque on Fourth Avenue near the state fairgrounds was described as "frequented largely by Somalis" ([Nashville Scene, November 2003](https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/true-believers/article_a02fdc1a-9518-5671-b44a-e895ec551fdb.html)). No Somali American has yet been found among Nashville's elected officials.

## What does the community face now?

**Vandalism and a neighbourly answer.** In February 2010, someone spray-painted crosses and "Muslims Go Home" on the Al-Farooq mosque, whose members were mainly recent Somali immigrants ([Not In Our Town, February 2010](https://www.niot.org/node/789)). Neighbours and volunteers painted over the graffiti in about an hour, and Belmont University offered to pay for supplies ([Not In Our Town](https://www.niot.org/node/789)).

**The end of Temporary Protected Status.** Somalia's TPS designation, in place since 16 September 1991, ended on 14 August 2026 ([USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-somalia)). About 700 people nationwide held it, and an appeal has been filed ([MPR News, August 2026](https://mprnews.org/story/2026/08/17/judges-order-allows-end-tps-protections-people-somalia)).

**Fewer new arrivals.** Somali refugee arrivals nationwide fell from 9,030 in 2016 to 260 in 2018 ([DHS Yearbook 2024, Table 14](https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/yearbook/2024/table14)). That slowed growth in smaller communities such as Nashville's.

## How is Nashville tied to home?

Food and talk tie the community to home: at The Horn, Somali chai and sambusas are a daily habit ([WPLN, 2023](https://wpln.org/post/at-the-horn-nashvilles-immigrant-communities-find-connection-and-belonging/)). Many older residents arrived from camps in Kenya, while their children grew up in Tennessee ([WPLN](https://wpln.org/post/at-the-horn-nashvilles-immigrant-communities-find-connection-and-belonging/); [AP via Dawn, 2009](https://dawn.com/news/342479/population-of-refugees-grows-in-music-city)). For the national picture, see [United States (Somali diaspora)](/en/diaspora/united-states/).

## Related pages

- [United States (Somali diaspora)](/en/diaspora/united-states/)
- [Other US Somali communities](/en/diaspora/us-other/)
- [Atlanta and Clarkston](/en/diaspora/atlanta-clarkston/)
- [Columbus, Ohio](/en/diaspora/columbus/)
- [Why and how Somalis left](/en/diaspora/why-and-how-somalis-left/)
- [Refugee camps](/en/diaspora/refugee-camps/)
- [Life after leaving](/en/diaspora/life-after-leaving/)

## Sources

1. US Census Bureau. American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Tables B02025, B04006 and B05006 (Somali), Nashville metro, Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee and states. Via Census Reporter API. [censusreporter.org](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=31000US34980). Checked 2026-11-12.
2. Daniel B. Cornfield, Vanderbilt University. "Union roles in Muslim immigrant worker incorporation: the case of Somali workers in Middle Tennessee." 4 March 2014, for Mobilizing against Inequality (ILR Press, 2014). [ilr.cornell.edu](https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Tennessee-Taxi-and-Poultry-Workers-Case-Study.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
3. Associated Press via Dawn. "Population of refugees grows in Music City." 9 February 2009. [dawn.com](https://dawn.com/news/342479/population-of-refugees-grows-in-music-city). Checked 2026-11-12.
4. Char Daston, WPLN News. "At The Horn, Nashville's immigrant communities find connection and belonging." 19 December 2023. [wpln.org](https://wpln.org/post/at-the-horn-nashvilles-immigrant-communities-find-connection-and-belonging/). Checked 2026-11-12.
5. US Department of State, Refugee Processing Center. "FY 2025 Arrivals by State and Nationality as of 30 Sep 2025." [rpc.state.gov](https://www.rpc.state.gov/documents/FY%202025%20Arrivals%20by%20State%20and%20Nationality%20as%20of%2030%20Sep%202025.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
6. Minnesota Reformer. "Feds making it harder for immigrants to send money to family." 10 March 2026. [minnesotareformer.com](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/03/10/feds-making-it-harder-for-immigrants-to-send-money-to-family/). Checked 2026-11-12.
7. Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. "Tennessee leaders condemn the Trump administration's escalating anti-immigrant and racist, discriminatory policies and rhetoric." 23 December 2025. [tnimmigrant.org](https://tnimmigrant.org/press/release-tennessee-leaders-condemn-the-trump-administrations-escalating-anti-immigrant-and-racist-discriminatory-policies-and-rhetoric). Checked 2026-11-12.
8. Joseph Sweat, Nashville Scene. "True believers." 20 November 2003. [nashvillescene.com](https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/true-believers/article_a02fdc1a-9518-5671-b44a-e895ec551fdb.html). Checked 2026-11-12.
9. Not In Our Town. Report on vandalism at Al-Farooq mosque, Nashville. 18 February 2010. [niot.org](https://www.niot.org/node/789). Checked 2026-11-12.
10. US Citizenship and Immigration Services. "Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Somalia." [uscis.gov](https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-somalia). Checked 2026-11-12.
11. MPR News. "Judge's order allows end to TPS protections for people from Somalia." 17 August 2026. [mprnews.org](https://mprnews.org/story/2026/08/17/judges-order-allows-end-tps-protections-people-somalia). Checked 2026-11-12.
12. US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics. Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2024, Table 14. [ohss.dhs.gov](https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/yearbook/2024/table14). Checked 2026-11-12.

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.