County facts · Land area · October 21, 2026

Largest Counties in Tennessee by Area and Population

The largest Tennessee counties by land area and by 2023 population, plus the smallest, county seats and a link to each official parcel map.

Looking for the largest counties in Tennessee? Tennessee has 95 counties covering about 41,232 square miles of land, based on the Census Bureau's 2020 Gazetteer. The largest by land area is Shelby County, at about 761 square miles, roughly 6.7 times the size of the smallest, Trousdale County (114 sq mi). Measured by people instead, the largest is Shelby County, with about 910,042 residents in the Census Bureau's July 1, 2023 estimate, so it is the largest both ways.

Each table below links the county's Platbookmapper page and its official parcel viewer, so you can go straight from the numbers to the property lines.

Tennessee counties at a glance

• Counties: 95
• Land area: about 41,232 sq mi, plus about 897 sq mi of water inside county lines
• Residents, 2023 estimates: about 7,126,489, or about 173 people per square mile of land
• Median county land area: about 436 sq mi
• With a verified public parcel viewer in our directory: 95 of 95 (88 of them through a statewide viewer)

The 10 largest Tennessee counties by land area

Together these 10 cover about 16% of Tennessee's land area and hold about 24% of its residents.

The 10 most populous Tennessee counties

These 10 hold about 55% of Tennessee's residents in the 2023 estimates.

The 5 smallest Tennessee counties by land area

Most and least crowded

• Most people per square mile: Davidson County, about 1,414 (then Shelby County, 1,197, and Knox County, 985)
• Fewest people per square mile: Perry County, about 21 (then Wayne County, 22, and Van Buren County, 24)

Counties with the most water

The Census Bureau reports water separately from land. It counts lakes, reservoirs, rivers and, for coastal and Great Lakes counties, the water inside the county boundary.

• Benton County: about 42 sq mi of water, 10% of its total area
• Jefferson County: about 39 sq mi of water, 12% of its total area
• Roane County: about 34 sq mi of water, 9% of its total area

Using these numbers in a land search

• Land area is not parcel count. A large rural county can hold fewer parcels than a small suburban one, so size alone says little about how busy its parcel map is.
• Search, don't scroll. In a big county, type an address, owner name or parcel number into the viewer's search box, where it has one, instead of panning across the map.
• Records follow the county line. Deeds, plats and tax bills are kept by the county where the parcel sits, so a tract that crosses a county line usually has a parcel number in each county.
• Rounded figures. Land and water areas are rounded to whole square miles. People per square mile is the 2023 estimate divided by land area.

Related guides

• Tennessee county GIS websites by viewer
• Tennessee plat maps
• Tennessee parcel map guide
• Tennessee land parcel map
• Tennessee landowner maps for hunting
• Kentucky–Tennessee border counties
• North Carolina–Tennessee border counties

More: All Tennessee counties on Platbookmapper

Sources

• U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer files, 2020 county land and water area.
• U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, county totals, Vintage 2023 (July 1, 2023 estimates)
• Platbookmapper county GIS directory (live data file behind our county pages, pulled October 21, 2026) for each county's official parcel viewer.
• County seats: Wikidata (county seat property), cross-checked against Census place names.