National investment firms acquired a half dozen of the biggest apartment complexes in Hamilton County for more than $30 million each during 2021 to capitalize on rising property values and rental rates in the market.

The biggest business expansions and new locations announced in the Chattanooga area in 2021 will add nearly 1,700 jobs at an array of businesses, including:

Chattanooga's Tennessee Riverwalk is among the country's best places to stroll along the water, according to a list in Fodor's Travel. Here's how the riverwalks stack up:

* Erlanger Baroness Hospital: 680 staffed beds

Residential home sales rose 8.4% in 2020 to a record high of 11,680 sales. Jay Robinson was involved in either buying or selling the highest dollar amount of residential real estate in 2020, while Grace Edrington was the top team for the number of transaction sides (either purchases or sales).

Chattanooga's combination of natural beauty and big-city amenities makes it the top destination for retirement in Tennessee in 2021, according to the retirement roadmap website Retirable.com.

Among 10 top CEOs of Chattanooga businesses reporting executive pay under SEC disclosures for 2020, eight received higher compensation packages last year than in 2019, and a majority of the CEOs got double-digit pay increases in 2020.

Ten of the 28 U.S. cities that saw job growth in 2020 are in Tennessee and Georgia. To build the list, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from February 2020 to November 2020 in all 400 U.S. metro areas.

Sales of new vehicles declined 3.7% last year but remained more than 30% above the last economic downturn during the Great Recession a decade ago.

Tennessee was set to receive more than $25 billion in federal coronavirus aid by the end of July 2020.

In 2020, Hamilton County ranked first in Tennessee in the percentage of net income contributed to charity, according to a recent study of IRS data from financial technology company SmartAsset.

The National Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in September on total employment by industry, and on year-over-year change in employment. In Tennessee and Georgia, the hospitality and leisure industries saw the highest percentage of job losses.

The Tech Tribune compiled the best tech startups in Chattanooga, Tennessee, weighing several factors including revenue potential, leadership team, brand/product traction, and the competitive landscape:

Rank in Tennessee by market share:

A list of the largest hospitals in the Chattanooga region.

The Realtors and their teams that had the highest dollar volume of single-family home sales last year were:

There are about 1,200 attorneys practicing law in the Chattanooga area. These firms have the largest practice by number of attorneys, based on membership in the Chattanooga Bar Association. Several firms have the same number of attorneys and are tied for placement.

Most of the top bosses in Chattanooga took home compensation packages in 2019 that were below previous years. The CEOs of the publicly traded or public companies filing proxy statements for 2019 pay packages include:

1. Physical therapist assistant - 155.8% growth by 2024; average pay is $56,870

Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported there were 145,568 job openings advertised online for 104,990 job seekers in December 2019. Hamilton County was among the top 10 counties in the state for the number of openings.

Most counties in Southeast Tennessee are projected to grow slower than the average for all of Tennessee from 2018 to 2040

The biggest companies headquartered in the Chattanooga area with annual revenues last year near or more than $1 billion included:

Based on student enrollment in the current 2020 school year, less than half of the biggest 4-year colleges in the Chattanooga region grew student enrollment this year compared with last year.