“We had to answer the ‘Where’s Nashville?’ question many times,” Mr. Samuels said.

Beginning in the early 1990s, though, political, business and nonprofit leaders tried to promote Nashville. State and local leaders adopted a regional approach to economic development to recruit companies such as Bridgestone, Nissan and UBS. Tennessee overhauled its community college system and work force development efforts to align better with the jobs being created.

Starting under Mayor Phil Bredesen, who later became Tennessee’s governor, the city invested in big projects that helped revive downtown, a key part of the city’s success.

Economists disagree about what policies are most effective at helping cities grow — or if policies matter much. Some, such as Michael Porter of Harvard and Richard Florida of the University of Toronto, have emphasized the importance of cultivating a “creative class” of artists, designers and entrepreneurs. Others, such as Jan Rivkin of Harvard, stress the importance of civic leadership. Pretty much everyone agrees that having an elite university is a big advantage.

Whatever the exact ingredients, Nashville hit on a winning recipe. The urban renewal that began under Mr. Bredesen turned into a boom after the Great Recession, which, thanks to Nashville’s diverse mix of industries, was comparatively mild here. The Gulch, a former rail yard and industrial district, was transformed into a vibrant neighborhood full of hip bars, luxury condominiums and boutique hotels.

Tourism took off, thanks in part to the ABC television country-music drama “Nashville.” Some of those tourists stuck around: The number of college graduates younger than 35 nearly doubled over a decade, to 155,000 by 2017.

Employers soon followed. Among them are Eventbrite, a San Francisco tech company, and EY, the accounting firm, which last month announced plans to open an office downtown for 600 workers. AllianceBernstein, an investment company, decided in May to move its headquarters to Nashville, from New York, in part because of the big-city-worthy cultural amenities and the small-city cost of living.