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 2021, at 299,446. Morristown, TN had the lowest, at 12,222. The median was 23,975. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest299,446Memphis, TN
Lowest12,222Morristown, TN
Median23,97527 cities

All cities, 2021

Memphis, TN: 299,446 personsMemphis, TN299,446Knoxville, TN: 97,326 personsKnoxville, TN97,326Chattanooga, TN: 90,839 personsChattanooga, TN90,839Murfreesboro, TN: 88,476 personsMurfreesboro, TN88,476Clarksville, TN: 71,696 personsClarksville, TN71,696Franklin, TN: 46,304 personsFranklin, TN46,304Johnson City, TN: 35,626 personsJohnson City, TN35,626Hendersonville, TN: 34,017 personsHendersonville, TN34,017Smyrna, TN: 30,303 personsSmyrna, TN30,303Jackson, TN: 29,876 personsJackson, TN29,876Spring Hill, TN: 29,478 personsSpring Hill, TN29,478Bartlett, TN: 28,305 personsBartlett, TN28,305Collierville, TN: 25,075 personsCollierville, TN25,075Gallatin, TN: 23,975 personsGallatin, TN23,975Kingsport, TN: 23,389 personsKingsport, TN23,389Brentwood, TN: 22,002 personsBrentwood, TN22,002Columbia, TN: 21,997 personsColumbia, TN21,997Cleveland, TN: 21,629 personsCleveland, TN21,629Mount Juliet, TN: 21,620 personsMount Juliet, TN21,620La Vergne, TN: 21,580 personsLa Vergne, TN21,580Lebanon, TN: 20,681 personsLebanon, TN20,681Germantown, TN: 18,786 personsGermantown, TN18,786Cookeville, TN: 16,327 personsCookeville, TN16,327Maryville, TN: 15,465 personsMaryville, TN15,465Oak Ridge, TN: 13,831 personsOak Ridge, TN13,831Bristol, TN: 12,245 personsBristol, TN12,245Morristown, TN: 12,222 personsMorristown, TN12,222Memphis, TN: 299,446 personsMemphis, TN299,446Knoxville, TN: 97,326 personsKnoxville, TN97,326Chattanooga, TN: 90,839 personsChattanooga, TN90,839Murfreesboro, TN: 88,476 personsMurfreesboro, TN88,476Clarksville, TN: 71,696 personsClarksville, TN71,696Franklin, TN: 46,304 personsFranklin, TN46,304Johnson City, TN: 35,626 personsJohnson City, TN35,626Hendersonville, TN: 34,017 personsHendersonville, TN34,017Smyrna, TN: 30,303 personsSmyrna, TN30,303Jackson, TN: 29,876 personsJackson, TN29,876Spring Hill, TN: 29,478 personsSpring Hill, TN29,478Bartlett, TN: 28,305 personsBartlett, TN28,305Collierville, TN: 25,075 personsCollierville, TN25,075Gallatin, TN: 23,975 personsGallatin, TN23,975Kingsport, TN: 23,389 personsKingsport, TN23,389Brentwood, TN: 22,002 personsBrentwood, TN22,002Columbia, TN: 21,997 personsColumbia, TN21,997Cleveland, TN: 21,629 personsCleveland, TN21,629Mount Juliet, TN: 21,620 personsMount Juliet, TN21,620La Vergne, TN: 21,580 personsLa Vergne, TN21,580Lebanon, TN: 20,681 personsLebanon, TN20,681Germantown, TN: 18,786 personsGermantown, TN18,786Cookeville, TN: 16,327 personsCookeville, TN16,327Maryville, TN: 15,465 personsMaryville, TN15,465Oak Ridge, TN: 13,831 personsOak Ridge, TN13,831Bristol, TN: 12,245 personsBristol, TN12,245Morristown, TN: 12,222 personsMorristown, TN12,222
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

RankCities2021
persons		Change on 2020
1Memphis, TN299,446-0.8%
2Knoxville, TN97,326+0.8%
3Chattanooga, TN90,839-0.8%
4Murfreesboro, TN88,476+3.6%
5Clarksville, TN71,696+0.9%
6Franklin, TN46,304+5.3%
7Johnson City, TN35,626+1.9%
8Hendersonville, TN34,017+2.7%
9Smyrna, TN30,303+4.6%
10Jackson, TN29,876-0.8%
11Spring Hill, TN29,478+8.7%
12Bartlett, TN28,305-0%
13Collierville, TN25,075+1.6%
14Gallatin, TN23,975+6%
15Kingsport, TN23,389-0.9%
16Brentwood, TN22,002+4.3%
17Columbia, TN21,997+4.9%
18Cleveland, TN21,629-3.6%
19Mount Juliet, TN21,620+4.8%
20La Vergne, TN21,580+3.2%
21Lebanon, TN20,681+7.7%
22Germantown, TN18,786+0.9%
23Cookeville, TN16,327+1.8%
24Maryville, TN15,465+1.9%
25Oak Ridge, TN13,831+1.9%
26Bristol, TN12,245+0.7%
27Morristown, TN12,2220%

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 2021 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, 2021) [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, 2021. 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=2021. 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, 2021. 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=2021.

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, 2021 [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=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_tennessee_by_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  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=2021. 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, 2021
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=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/tennessee-cities?period=2021.
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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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Memphis, TN, with 299,446 in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Morristown, TN, with 12,222 in 2021.

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 2021 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Tennessee: more rankings