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 2020, at 301,905. Bristol, TN had the lowest, at 12,154. The median was 23,601. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest301,905Memphis, TN
Lowest12,154Bristol, TN
Median23,60127 cities

All cities, 2020

Memphis, TN: 301,905 personsMemphis, TN301,905Knoxville, TN: 96,597 personsKnoxville, TN96,597Chattanooga, TN: 91,606 personsChattanooga, TN91,606Murfreesboro, TN: 85,363 personsMurfreesboro, TN85,363Clarksville, TN: 71,078 personsClarksville, TN71,078Franklin, TN: 43,970 personsFranklin, TN43,970Johnson City, TN: 34,950 personsJohnson City, TN34,950Hendersonville, TN: 33,132 personsHendersonville, TN33,132Jackson, TN: 30,110 personsJackson, TN30,110Smyrna, TN: 28,971 personsSmyrna, TN28,971Bartlett, TN: 28,316 personsBartlett, TN28,316Spring Hill, TN: 27,127 personsSpring Hill, TN27,127Collierville, TN: 24,685 personsCollierville, TN24,685Kingsport, TN: 23,601 personsKingsport, TN23,601Gallatin, TN: 22,614 personsGallatin, TN22,614Cleveland, TN: 22,442 personsCleveland, TN22,442Brentwood, TN: 21,105 personsBrentwood, TN21,105Columbia, TN: 20,963 personsColumbia, TN20,963La Vergne, TN: 20,902 personsLa Vergne, TN20,902Mount Juliet, TN: 20,632 personsMount Juliet, TN20,632Lebanon, TN: 19,208 personsLebanon, TN19,208Germantown, TN: 18,619 personsGermantown, TN18,619Cookeville, TN: 16,038 personsCookeville, TN16,038Maryville, TN: 15,173 personsMaryville, TN15,173Oak Ridge, TN: 13,577 personsOak Ridge, TN13,577Morristown, TN: 12,218 personsMorristown, TN12,218Bristol, TN: 12,154 personsBristol, TN12,154Memphis, TN: 301,905 personsMemphis, TN301,905Knoxville, TN: 96,597 personsKnoxville, TN96,597Chattanooga, TN: 91,606 personsChattanooga, TN91,606Murfreesboro, TN: 85,363 personsMurfreesboro, TN85,363Clarksville, TN: 71,078 personsClarksville, TN71,078Franklin, TN: 43,970 personsFranklin, TN43,970Johnson City, TN: 34,950 personsJohnson City, TN34,950Hendersonville, TN: 33,132 personsHendersonville, TN33,132Jackson, TN: 30,110 personsJackson, TN30,110Smyrna, TN: 28,971 personsSmyrna, TN28,971Bartlett, TN: 28,316 personsBartlett, TN28,316Spring Hill, TN: 27,127 personsSpring Hill, TN27,127Collierville, TN: 24,685 personsCollierville, TN24,685Kingsport, TN: 23,601 personsKingsport, TN23,601Gallatin, TN: 22,614 personsGallatin, TN22,614Cleveland, TN: 22,442 personsCleveland, TN22,442Brentwood, TN: 21,105 personsBrentwood, TN21,105Columbia, TN: 20,963 personsColumbia, TN20,963La Vergne, TN: 20,902 personsLa Vergne, TN20,902Mount Juliet, TN: 20,632 personsMount Juliet, TN20,632Lebanon, TN: 19,208 personsLebanon, TN19,208Germantown, TN: 18,619 personsGermantown, TN18,619Cookeville, TN: 16,038 personsCookeville, TN16,038Maryville, TN: 15,173 personsMaryville, TN15,173Oak Ridge, TN: 13,577 personsOak Ridge, TN13,577Morristown, TN: 12,218 personsMorristown, TN12,218Bristol, TN: 12,154 personsBristol, TN12,154
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

RankCities2020
persons		Change on 2019
1Memphis, TN301,905+1.2%
2Knoxville, TN96,597+0.1%
3Chattanooga, TN91,606-0.3%
4Murfreesboro, TN85,3630%
5Clarksville, TN71,078-0%
6Franklin, TN43,970-1.6%
7Johnson City, TN34,950-1.8%
8Hendersonville, TN33,132-1.1%
9Jackson, TN30,110+1.1%
10Smyrna, TN28,971+1.3%
11Bartlett, TN28,316-3.5%
12Spring Hill, TN27,127+1.1%
13Collierville, TN24,685-3.6%
14Kingsport, TN23,601-1.8%
15Gallatin, TN22,614+1%
16Cleveland, TN22,442+0.5%
17Brentwood, TN21,105-4.5%
18Columbia, TN20,963+2.8%
19La Vergne, TN20,902-1.3%
20Mount Juliet, TN20,632+0.9%
21Lebanon, TN19,208+1.3%
22Germantown, TN18,619-4.4%
23Cookeville, TN16,038-0%
24Maryville, TN15,173-1.9%
25Oak Ridge, TN13,577-1.3%
26Morristown, TN12,218-0.5%
27Bristol, TN12,154-2.2%

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 2020 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.CurrentU20-24. 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, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24

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, 2020. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2020. 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, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2020.

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, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_tennessee_by_2020,
  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, 2020}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2020. 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.CurrentU20-24. 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, 2020
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.CurrentU20-24
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2020.
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.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in Tennessee by civilian labor force using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Memphis, TN, with 301,905 in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Bristol, TN, with 12,154 in 2020.

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 2020 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Tennessee: more rankings