Data / Rankings / Civilian labor force / Cities in Tennessee

Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force

Memphis, TN had the highest civilian labor force of 27 cities in 2017, at 291,623. Morristown, TN had the lowest, at 11,872. The median was 23,462. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest291,623Memphis, TN
Lowest11,872Morristown, TN
Median23,46227 cities

All cities, 2017

Memphis, TN: 291,623 personsMemphis, TN291,623Knoxville, TN: 94,462 personsKnoxville, TN94,462Chattanooga, TN: 87,523 personsChattanooga, TN87,523Murfreesboro, TN: 76,253 personsMurfreesboro, TN76,253Clarksville, TN: 67,357 personsClarksville, TN67,357Franklin, TN: 40,296 personsFranklin, TN40,296Johnson City, TN: 34,771 personsJohnson City, TN34,771Hendersonville, TN: 31,926 personsHendersonville, TN31,926Jackson, TN: 28,900 personsJackson, TN28,900Bartlett, TN: 28,500 personsBartlett, TN28,500Smyrna, TN: 26,583 personsSmyrna, TN26,583Collierville, TN: 24,623 personsCollierville, TN24,623Kingsport, TN: 23,673 personsKingsport, TN23,673Spring Hill, TN: 23,462 personsSpring Hill, TN23,462Cleveland, TN: 21,682 personsCleveland, TN21,682Brentwood, TN: 21,154 personsBrentwood, TN21,154La Vergne, TN: 20,309 personsLa Vergne, TN20,309Germantown, TN: 18,960 personsGermantown, TN18,960Gallatin, TN: 18,826 personsGallatin, TN18,826Mount Juliet, TN: 18,454 personsMount Juliet, TN18,454Columbia, TN: 18,430 personsColumbia, TN18,430Lebanon, TN: 16,324 personsLebanon, TN16,324Cookeville, TN: 15,468 personsCookeville, TN15,468Maryville, TN: 14,841 personsMaryville, TN14,841Oak Ridge, TN: 13,509 personsOak Ridge, TN13,509Bristol, TN: 12,311 personsBristol, TN12,311Morristown, TN: 11,872 personsMorristown, TN11,872Memphis, TN: 291,623 personsMemphis, TN291,623Knoxville, TN: 94,462 personsKnoxville, TN94,462Chattanooga, TN: 87,523 personsChattanooga, TN87,523Murfreesboro, TN: 76,253 personsMurfreesboro, TN76,253Clarksville, TN: 67,357 personsClarksville, TN67,357Franklin, TN: 40,296 personsFranklin, TN40,296Johnson City, TN: 34,771 personsJohnson City, TN34,771Hendersonville, TN: 31,926 personsHendersonville, TN31,926Jackson, TN: 28,900 personsJackson, TN28,900Bartlett, TN: 28,500 personsBartlett, TN28,500Smyrna, TN: 26,583 personsSmyrna, TN26,583Collierville, TN: 24,623 personsCollierville, TN24,623Kingsport, TN: 23,673 personsKingsport, TN23,673Spring Hill, TN: 23,462 personsSpring Hill, TN23,462Cleveland, TN: 21,682 personsCleveland, TN21,682Brentwood, TN: 21,154 personsBrentwood, TN21,154La Vergne, TN: 20,309 personsLa Vergne, TN20,309Germantown, TN: 18,960 personsGermantown, TN18,960Gallatin, TN: 18,826 personsGallatin, TN18,826Mount Juliet, TN: 18,454 personsMount Juliet, TN18,454Columbia, TN: 18,430 personsColumbia, TN18,430Lebanon, TN: 16,324 personsLebanon, TN16,324Cookeville, TN: 15,468 personsCookeville, TN15,468Maryville, TN: 14,841 personsMaryville, TN14,841Oak Ridge, TN: 13,509 personsOak Ridge, TN13,509Bristol, TN: 12,311 personsBristol, TN12,311Morristown, TN: 11,872 personsMorristown, TN11,872
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2017
persons		Change on 2016
1Memphis, TN291,623+0.1%
2Knoxville, TN94,462+0.9%
3Chattanooga, TN87,523+2.5%
4Murfreesboro, TN76,253+5.4%
5Clarksville, TN67,357+2.3%
6Franklin, TN40,296+7%
7Johnson City, TN34,771+0.9%
8Hendersonville, TN31,926+3.7%
9Jackson, TN28,900+0.2%
10Bartlett, TN28,500+0.9%
11Smyrna, TN26,583+4.7%
12Collierville, TN24,623+2.3%
13Kingsport, TN23,673+1.5%
14Spring Hill, TN23,462+6.8%
15Cleveland, TN21,682+0.3%
16Brentwood, TN21,154+2.5%
17La Vergne, TN20,309+3.1%
18Germantown, TN18,960+0.5%
19Gallatin, TN18,826+6.8%
20Mount Juliet, TN18,454+6.2%
21Columbia, TN18,430+4.8%
22Lebanon, TN16,324+5.2%
23Cookeville, TN15,468+2.4%
24Maryville, TN14,841+1.8%
25Oak Ridge, TN13,509+0.3%
26Bristol, TN12,311-1.2%
27Morristown, TN11,872+0.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed plus unemployed residents, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, not jobs: for wage and salary jobs by state use oews_employment. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. 2 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2017 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average (Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force, 2017. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2017.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_tennessee_by_2017,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force, 2017}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2017. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force, 2017
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Memphis, TN, with 291,623 in 2017, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Morristown, TN, with 11,872 in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 2 cities have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Tennessee: more rankings