Tennessee Counties Map: Click All 95 Counties

How many counties are in Tennessee?

Tennessee has 95 counties. Eight states have more, and 40 have fewer.

Tennessee has 95 counties grouped into three Grand Divisions, East, Middle and West Tennessee, which the state recognizes in law and which the three stars on its flag stand for. Nashville and Davidson County merged their governments in 1963. Shelby County (Memphis) is the largest by area.

How Tennessee's counties were formed

Washington County, created by North Carolina in 1777, is older than the state of Tennessee. Counties spread west as treaties opened land, and West Tennessee was divided after the Chickasaw cession of 1818. Unicoi County, created in 1875 in the mountains of East Tennessee, was the 95th and last.

Tennessee regions and the counties in each

Tennessee's three Grand Divisions organize the map. East Tennessee runs from the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains (Sevier, Blount, Cocke) through Knox (Knoxville) and Hamilton (Chattanooga). Middle Tennessee includes the Cumberland Plateau and the Nashville Basin: Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Montgomery (Clarksville). West Tennessee runs from the Tennessee River to the Mississippi, with Madison (Jackson) in the middle and Shelby (Memphis) in the southwest corner.

Notable places on the Tennessee county map

Clingmans Dome, the state's highest point at 6,643 feet, is in Sevier County in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the country. Graceland is in Memphis (Shelby County), and the Grand Ole Opry is in Nashville (Davidson County). Reelfoot Lake, in Lake and Obion counties, formed during the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.

Tennessee counties map: the biggest and smallest

Shelby County is the largest county in Tennessee, with 761 square miles of land, about 2% of the state. Trousdale County is the smallest, at 114 square miles.

The smallest counties by land area are Trousdale County (114 sq mi), Moore County (129 sq mi) and Hamblen County (161 sq mi).

Which counties in Tennessee have the most people?

Shelby County has the most people, about 910,530 in the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate, or 13% of everyone in Tennessee. The three biggest counties together hold 30% of the state's 7,227,750 people. Pickett County has the fewest, about 5,108.

The most crowded is Davidson County, with about 1,448 people per square mile. The emptiest is Perry County, with about 22 people per square mile. Comparing the two is a quick way to show children that a big county on the map isn't always a big county in people.

What county is Nashville in?

Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, is in Davidson County. Davidson County ranks 2nd of 95 by population. Tennessee is called the Volunteer State, and it became the 16th state in 1796.

Counties on the Tennessee border

Learning the edge of the map first gives children a frame to fill in. Tennessee shares a border with Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia.

How Tennessee's counties compare with other states

Tennessee ranks 34th among the 50 states in land area and 15th in population. Its average county covers about 434 square miles and holds about 76,082 people. Across the 50 states, the average county-level area covers about 1,139 square miles and holds about 109,381 people, so Tennessee's counties are smaller than usual in size. Small counties pack more names into the same space, so zooming in helps.

Landmarks for learning the counties of Tennessee

• West Tennessee runs from the Mississippi River to the Tennessee River, with Shelby County in the corner.
• Middle Tennessee surrounds Davidson County (Nashville, the capital).
• East Tennessee holds Knox County (Knoxville) and the Smoky Mountains.

With 95 counties, work one region at a time: study it with names on, then take a Practice round and stop when you've found that group. Then print the Tennessee county map worksheet to check that it sticks on paper.

All 95 Tennessee counties

Every county on the map, A to Z, with its land area and July 2024 population estimate.

Tennessee geography for homeschoolers

Pair this map with the Southeast states and capitals quiz and the US states quiz. If you teach at home, see homeschooling in tennessee, and check tennessee school voucher program to see whether a program may help pay for Tennessee history and geography curriculum. Each program decides what it covers.