Tennessee County Map

What Are Tennessee's Three Grand Divisions?

East Tennessee holds 33 counties, Middle Tennessee 41, and West Tennessee 21, totaling the state's 95. The divisions are defined by statute, with each county assigned by name in the code, and Article VI of the state constitution gives them effect in the judiciary. No more than two of the five Tennessee Supreme Court justices may come from any one division, and the court must convene in each division at Knoxville, Nashville, and Jackson. Similar balancing rules apply to the appellate courts and to certain state boards. The three stars on the state flag represent these divisions.

How Many Counties Are in Tennessee?

Tennessee has 95 counties, third nationally behind Texas and Georgia. Washington County came first, created in 1777 by the North Carolina General Assembly while the territory still belonged to that state, and it originally covered essentially all of present-day Tennessee. It was also the first political division in the United States named for George Washington. Chester County, organized in 1879, is the newest. Two counties no longer exist, since James County was absorbed into Hamilton County in 1919 and Tennessee County was divided into Montgomery and Robertson at statehood in 1796.

Which Tennessee County Is the Largest?

Shelby County covers 755 square miles of land at the southwestern corner of the state, more than any other county in Tennessee, and it is also the most populous. Trousdale County, northeast of Nashville, is the smallest at 114 square miles, which makes Shelby more than six times its size. The median county covers about 435 square miles and the mean about 434, so the distribution is unusually even once those two extremes are set aside. Most of the largest counties by area are in West Tennessee, where the land is flat and settlement spread out, while the smallest cluster in the middle of the state.

Which Tennessee Counties Have the Most and Fewest People?

Shelby County, which contains Memphis, is the most populous Tennessee county, with an estimated 910,226 residents as of July 1, 2025, ahead of Davidson County at 745,904 and Knox at 511,453. Hamilton follows at 390,833 and Rutherford at 386,352. Pickett County, on the Kentucky line in the upper Cumberland region, is the least populous at 5,219, with Van Buren second lowest at 6,874. Statewide the 2025 estimate stands at 7,315,076 across 42,169 square miles, and the spread between the largest and smallest county runs to roughly 905,000 residents.

What Is the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County?

Voters in Nashville and Davidson County approved the Metro Charter on June 28, 1962, after an earlier attempt failed in 1958, and the consolidated government took office on April 1, 1963 with Beverly Briley as the first metropolitan mayor. It is generally described as the first major city-county consolidation of the modern era in the United States, and Jacksonville followed in 1968 and Indianapolis in 1970. Several satellite cities, including Berry Hill, Belle Meade, Oak Hill, Forest Hills, and Goodlettsville, kept their own charters inside the Metro boundary. Davidson County is therefore simultaneously a county and a municipal corporation.

Which Other Tennessee Counties Have Merged With Their Cities?

Lynchburg merged with Moore County in 1988 in a complete consolidation, so the two operate as a single government. Hartsville and Trousdale County consolidated with effect from January 1, 2001, under a charter revised through 2022, and those are the only two smaller consolidations that followed Nashville. Along with Davidson, that makes Moore and Trousdale counties municipal corporations as well as counties, which is why all three appear differently in state and federal records than the other 92. No other Tennessee county has merged with its principal city.

Which County Is Nashville, Memphis, or Gatlinburg In?

Nashville is coextensive with Davidson County under the Metro government, Memphis lies entirely within Shelby County, and Gatlinburg is in Sevier County alongside Pigeon Forge. Knoxville is the seat of Knox County, Chattanooga of Hamilton with a small extension into Marion, Clarksville of Montgomery, Murfreesboro of Rutherford, and Franklin of Williamson. Sevier County also holds part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Johnson City falls mainly in Washington County while extending into Carter and Sullivan, so a single address there can belong to any of the three.

Which Tennessee Counties Contain the Great Smoky Mountains?

Three counties hold the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, namely Sevier, Blount, and Cocke, with Swain and Haywood covering the North Carolina side. The Cumberland Plateau runs through a wider set including Cumberland, Fentress, Morgan, Scott, Pickett, Overton, Putnam, White, Van Buren, Bledsoe, Grundy, Sequatchie, and Marion, though the plateau is defined physiographically and no official county roster exists. In the west, Lake, Dyer, Lauderdale, Tipton, and Shelby front the Mississippi River, and Reelfoot Lake spreads across roughly 18,000 acres in Lake and Obion counties, formed by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.

Is Moore County Still Dry Despite Jack Daniel's?

Moore County remains dry. Tennessee jurisdictions are dry by default and must authorize liquor sales by local referendum, and Moore County, whose seat is Lynchburg, has not gone wet. Liquor may be sampled and purchased only on the distillery premises, where the White Rabbit Bottle Shop sells commemorative and specialty bottles under a change in state law made in 2009. Beer is available in local food establishments when served with a meal. Hancock County is the only Tennessee county that is completely dry. Before 2009, state law restricted distillation of drinkable spirits to three counties, namely Lincoln, Moore, and Coffee.

Which Tennessee County Has the Fastest Population Growth?

Davidson County added the most people between July 2024 and July 2025, gaining 9,281 residents to reach 745,904, with Rutherford second at 6,266 and Wilson third at 4,693. By percentage, Trousdale County led at 3.6 percent, followed by Maury at 3.2 percent and Van Buren at 2.9 percent. Williamson County, often assumed to be first, ranked seventh by numeric gain and outside the top ten by rate. Eighty-one of the 95 counties gained population, and the state's 78 rural counties have matched or outpaced its 17 urban counties in growth rate through most of this decade.