The Local Economic Impact of State Parks

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Abstract
Data from interviews at five Tennessee state parks are combined with information from park records and the U.S. Census to analyze local employment and expenditure impacts of state park development. The findings reveal that for every ten park jobs, three to four additional jobs are created in the local area. These additional jobs arise from both the secondary effects of state expenditures on park payroll and maintenance (about one additional job per ten park jobs) and expenditures of park visitors at local businesses (about two or three additional jobs per ten park jobs). The greatest employment impact of state park expenditures occurs for parks of an intermediate level of development. These are parks with enough facilities to attract non-local visitors, yet not so self-sufficient as to be completely independent of local business services.

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