List_of_largest_cities_and_towns_in_Tennessee_by_population

List of municipalities in Tennessee

List of municipalities in Tennessee

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Tennessee is a state located in the Southern United States. There are 346 municipalities in the state of Tennessee. Municipalities in the state are designated as "cities" or "towns". As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 3,564,494 Tennesseans, or just over 56% of the state's total population of 6,346,105, lived in municipalities. The remainder lived in unincorporated areas.[1]

Map of the United States with Tennessee highlighted
These directional signs in Crossville, photographed in 1937 by Ben Shahn as part of a New Deal program, helped travelers find their way to other Tennessee cities and towns.

Municipal charters

Before 1954, all Tennessee municipalities were established by private act of the state legislature and operated under charters established by private act of the legislature. As of 2007, 212 of the state's municipalities were operating under charters established by private act of the legislature. In 1953, amendments to the Tennessee Constitution prohibited subsequent incorporations by private act and provided for several new forms of municipal charter. Fourteen cities, including Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, three of the state's four largest cities, are "home rule cities" organized under charters approved by referendum of the citizens. Home rule charters are authorized by Article XI, Section 9, of the Tennessee State Constitution, as amended in 1953. Other municipalities are incorporated under one of several standardized types of charter authorized by state statute:[2]

Some Tennessee municipalities are called "cities" and others are called "towns."[3] These terms do not have legal significance in Tennessee[4] and are not related to population, date of establishment, or type of municipal charter.

Under current state law (TCA Title 6), a minimum of 1,500 residents are required to incorporate as a new municipality under the mayor-alderman or city manager-commission charter, and a minimum of 5,000 residents are required to incorporate under a modified city manager-council charter. In general, unincorporated areas within three miles of an existing municipality (within five miles if the municipality has a population of 100,000 or more) are not permitted to incorporate as new municipalities. Provisions for incorporation were less restrictive in the past. The capital of Tennessee is Nashville.

List of incorporated cities and towns

  County seat[A]

More information Place Name, County(ies)[B] ...
  • A^ All but one of Tennessee's county seats are municipalities. The exception is Blountville, county seat of Sullivan County.
  • B^ For municipalities located in more than one county, the primary county (according to U.S. Census) is listed first.

References

  1. [1]
    "Certified Population of Tennessee Incorporated Municipalities and Counties Archived December 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, July 1, 2011.
  2. [2]
    "Directory of Municipal Officials - Charter". University of Tennessee: Municipal Technical Advisory Service. Archived from the original on May 18, 2008. Retrieved October 15, 2007.
  3. [3]
    "Tennessee 2000 Population Summary". Office of Local Government, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. Archived from the original on January 16, 2008. Retrieved October 15, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. [4]
    "State Tax Sharing, Fairness, and Local Government Finances in Tennessee" (PDF). Tennessee.gov. Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. January 2004. p. xiv. Retrieved November 7, 2008. There are 348 cities in Tennessee and each is characterized as either a city or a town (in our state, there is no legal distinction between the two).
  5. [5]
    U.S. Census Bureau, GCT-PH1. Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010
  6. [6]
    "Incorporated Municipalities" in Tennessee Blue Book, 2005-2006 edition, pages 618-625. Accessed at the Internet Archive, January 23, 2018.
  7. [7]
    Zepp, George (May 2, 2007). "Berry Hill, the tiny city that almost wasn't". The Tennessean. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
  8. [8]
    The Tennessee Blue Book lists 1955 as the date of Belle Meade's incorporation; according to MTAS Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine this is the date when Belle Meade adopted the uniform manager-commission charter.
  9. [9]
    Listed under its former name, Lake City, in the 2010 census
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