Nashville, Tennessee (Somali community)

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; Tennessee). Somali refugees began settling in Nashville in the 1990s (Cornfield, Vanderbilt University, 2014).

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). That is almost the whole metro count. The margin of error is about 1,028, so the true figure is uncertain (Census Reporter).

By ancestry, the survey counted 1,822 in Nashville-Davidson, and 1,190 people there were born in Somalia (ACS 2020–2024, B04006; B05006). Tennessee ranks 13th among US states by the race count (ACS 2020–2024, B02025, by state).

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).

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). The foreign-born share of Nashville residents rose from 2.5% in 1990 to 10.1% in 2001 (Cornfield).

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). Nearly 3,100 refugees of all origins resettled in Nashville from 2002 to early 2009 (AP via Dawn, 2009).

An agency leader said in 2009 that services, affordable housing and factory jobs made Middle Tennessee a point of entry (AP via Dawn). In the 2000s, Nashville agencies also helped Tyson Foods recruit Somali refugees for its poultry plant in Shelbyville, 55 miles south (Cornfield, 2014).

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).

Work and business

Taxi drivers. Somalis were the largest single ethnic group among Nashville's roughly 600 licensed taxi drivers (Cornfield, 2014). A 2008 survey of 300 drivers found average net pay under $12,000 a year, for seven 14-hour days a week (Cornfield). Drivers formed the Nashville Metro Taxi Drivers Alliance in 2007, and a Somali driver-owned company, Tenn-Cab, won approval in 2013 (Cornfield).

Poultry workers. About 250 of 1,200 workers at Tyson's Shelbyville plant were Somali (Cornfield, 2014). In 2007, their union contract named Eid al-Fitr a paid holiday, which the union called a first in the US (Cornfield). After a local backlash, Labor Day was restored and Eid became an optional paid personal day (Cornfield).

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). It serves Somali chai and has become a meeting place for many communities in South Nashville (WPLN).

The Somali diaspora as a whole sent US$1.73 billion home in 2023, a World Bank-based figure (Minnesota Reformer, March 2026). Since 1 January 2026, a 1% US tax applies to cash-funded transfers abroad (Minnesota Reformer).

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). The centre ran education programmes in Shelbyville to improve relations between Somali newcomers and local residents (Cornfield, 2014).

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, founded in 2001, took part in the taxi drivers' founding meeting and in the Shelbyville programmes (TIRRC; Cornfield). In December 2025, it and faith leaders condemned national attacks on Somali Americans as anti-Muslim and anti-Black (TIRRC, December 2025).

In 2003, a mosque on Fourth Avenue near the state fairgrounds was described as "frequented largely by Somalis" (Nashville Scene, November 2003). 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). Neighbours and volunteers painted over the graffiti in about an hour, and Belmont University offered to pay for supplies (Not In Our Town).

The end of Temporary Protected Status. Somalia's TPS designation, in place since 16 September 1991, ended on 14 August 2026 (USCIS). About 700 people nationwide held it, and an appeal has been filed (MPR News, August 2026).

Fewer new arrivals. Somali refugee arrivals nationwide fell from 9,030 in 2016 to 260 in 2018 (DHS Yearbook 2024, Table 14). 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). Many older residents arrived from camps in Kenya, while their children grew up in Tennessee (WPLN; AP via Dawn, 2009). For the national picture, see United States (Somali diaspora).

Related pages

• United States (Somali diaspora)
• Other US Somali communities
• Atlanta and Clarkston
• Columbus, Ohio
• Why and how Somalis left
• Refugee camps
• 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. 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. Checked 2026-11-12.
3. Associated Press via Dawn. "Population of refugees grows in Music City." 9 February 2009. dawn.com. 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. 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. Checked 2026-11-12.
6. Minnesota Reformer. "Feds making it harder for immigrants to send money to family." 10 March 2026. minnesotareformer.com. 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. Checked 2026-11-12.
8. Joseph Sweat, Nashville Scene. "True believers." 20 November 2003. nashvillescene.com. Checked 2026-11-12.
9. Not In Our Town. Report on vandalism at Al-Farooq mosque, Nashville. 18 February 2010. niot.org. Checked 2026-11-12.
10. US Citizenship and Immigration Services. "Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Somalia." uscis.gov. Checked 2026-11-12.
11. MPR News. "Judge's order allows end to TPS protections for people from Somalia." 17 August 2026. mprnews.org. 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. Checked 2026-11-12.