Map of Tennessee with Cities, Counties, Borders and Roads

West Tennessee and Middle Tennessee to the Nashville basin (county-first walkthrough)

Use this detailed map of Tennessee to scan every city, county, its clearly labeled county seat, the principal cities and towns, neighboring states on all sides, and a road-light orientation that keeps highways subtle. Hence, the county grid stays front and center. This guide is written to help residents, travelers, and geography students read the best map layout quickly and confidently.

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Big picture orientation

• Borders: Kentucky runs the entire north line, Virginia touches the northeast tip, North Carolina forms the long eastern wall along the Blue Ridge and Smokies, Georgia nicks the southeast corner around Chattanooga, Alabama sits across the south, and Mississippi lies southwest with the Mississippi River defining Tennessee’s western edge against Arkansas and Missouri.

• Rivers for bearings: west to east, you’ll see the broad Mississippi, the north-flowing Tennessee River looping from Alabama back into the state, and the Cumberland River arching around Nashville.

• Road-light cues only: keep just four corridors in your head for simple orientation—I-40 (Memphis–Jackson–Nashville–Knoxville), I-24 (Clarksville–Nashville–Chattanooga), I-65 (Alabama line through Columbia and Franklin to Nashville and Kentucky), and I-75 (Chattanooga–Knoxville to Kentucky). The map keeps these cues clean and secondary to counties.

The Mississippi River tier and the cotton lowlands

• Shelby County – county seat: Memphis. The state’s largest urban county hugs the river bluffs. Suburban cities like Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville, and Millington appear around Memphis. Tipton County to the north has Covington as its seat and towns like Munford and Atoka along the inland ridge.

• Fayette County – county seat: Somerville. East of Shelby, with rural town anchors Oakland and Piperton.

• Lauderdale County – county seat: Ripley, and Dyer County – county seat: Dyersburg form the next bend north; Halls and Newbern show on the uplands.

• Lake County – county seat: Tiptonville sits on Reelfoot Lake near the Missouri line. Obion County – county seat: Union City, includes South Fulton on the Kentucky line.

• Weakley County – county seat: Dresden features Martin (a university town) and Greenfield; eastward, Henry County – county seat: Paris fronts Kentucky Lake.

The west-central hardwoods and Tennessee River counties

• Gibson County – county seat: Trenton has a cluster of towns (Humboldt, Milan, Medina).

• Madison County – county seat: Jackson is the largest city between Memphis and Nashville, a helpful midpoint on I-40.

• Haywood (Brownsville) and Crockett (Alamo) lie south of I-40; Chester (Henderson) and Henderson County (Lexington) step toward the river hills.

• Hardeman County, with its county seat in Bolivar, and McNairy County, with its county seat in Selmer, mark the Mississippi-Alabama gateway toward Corinth, just off the map.

• Hardin County – county seat: Savannah sits on the Tennessee River opposite Pickwick Lake, a clear label near the Alabama corner.

The Tennessee River bends to Kentucky Lake.

• Decatur County – county seat: Decaturville, and Perry County – county seat: Linden ride the timbered ridges north of the river.

• Benton County – county seat: Camden touches Kentucky Lake with Big Sandy on the shore; Carroll County – county seat: Huntingdon lies just east with McKenzie and Atwood on the rail line.

• Hickman County, with its county seat in Centerville, and Humphreys County, with its county seat in Waverly, sit along the Duck and Buffalo rivers, heading toward the Cumberland.

• Stewart County – county seat: Dover frames Land Between the Lakes along the Kentucky line; Houston County – county seat: Erin is just south.

Nashville and the Cumberland arc (Davidson plus the ring of Middle Tennessee counties)

• Davidson County – consolidated seat: Nashville. The Cumberland River loops through the metro, with communities like Madison, Bellevue, Antioch, and Goodlettsville labeled.

• Williamson County – county seat: Franklin sits immediately south with growth centers Brentwood, Thompson’s Station, Spring Hill;

• Rutherford County – county seat: Murfreesboro, a central Middle Tennessee hub along I-24; Smyrna and La Vergne lead back toward Nashville.

• Wilson County – county seat: Lebanon anchors I-40 eastward; Mt. Juliet touches the metro edge.

• Sumner County – county seat: Gallatin, and the lakefront city Hendersonville sit northeast of Nashville along Old Hickory Lake.

• Robertson County – county seat: Springfield runs along the Kentucky line with White House and Greenbrier.

• Cheatham County – county seat: Ashland City fills the river bend west of Nashville.

• Dickson County, with its county seat in Charlotte, and Montgomery County, with its county seat in Clarksville (a strong regional city at the Red River), complete the northwest arc.

The southern Highland Rim: from the Natchez Trace to the Cumberland Plateau front

• Maury County – county seat: Columbia bridges I-65 toward the Duck River valley.

• Marshall County – county seat: Lewisburg, Bedford County – county seat: Shelbyville (noted for its walking horse heritage), and Coffee County – county seat: Manchester, with Tullahoma nearby, line I-24 heading to the Plateau.

• Giles County, with its county seat in Pulaski, borders Alabama. Lawrence County, with its county seat in Lawrenceburg, and Wayne County, with its county seat in Waynesboro, lie along the Tennessee-Alabama wooded hills.

• Lewis County – county seat: Hohenwald sits near the Natchez Trace Parkway.

• Moore County – county seat: Lynchburg is tiny on the map but prominent for its distilling heritage.

• Franklin County – county seat: Winchester frames Tims Ford Lake; Grundy County – county seat: Altamont and Marion County – county seat: Jasper climb into the mountain front as Part 2 takes over to the east.

The Upper Cumberland and East Tennessee from the Plateau to the Smokies (county-first walkthrough)

Upper Cumberland counties along I-40 and US-70

• Cannon County – county seat: Woodbury, and Warren County – county seat: McMinnville straddle the Highland Rim.

• DeKalb County – county seat: Smithville fronts Center Hill Lake; White County – county seat: Sparta sits just east with Rock Island nearby.

• Putnam County – county seat: Cookeville is a bold regional label on I-40; Baxter, Monterey, and Algood round out the cluster.

• Jackson County – county seat: Gainesboro lies on the Cumberland River; Smith County – county seat: Carthage sits at the river elbow where I-40 crosses.

• Macon County, with its county seat in Lafayette, and Trousdale County, with its county seat in Hartsville, form the Kentucky-border step north of Lebanon.

• Overton County – county seat: Livingston, and Fentress County – county seat: Jamestown, crest the Plateau, with Pickett County – county seat: Byrdstown tucked against the Kentucky line on Dale Hollow Lake.

• Clay County – county seat: Celina rides the narrow valley between the lakes.

Plateau south to the Sequatchie Valley

• Van Buren County – county seat: Spencer sits high on the rim; Cumberland County – county seat: Crossville marks the I-40 summit town with Fairfield Glade nearby.

• Bledsoe County – county seat: Pikeville anchors the Sequatchie Valley; Sequatchie County – county seat: Dunlap lies further south in the same linear valley.

• Rhea County – county seat: Dayton, fronts Chickamauga Lake; Meigs County – county seat: Decatur, sits along the Hiwassee River.

• Roane County, with its county seat in Kingston, overlaps just west with Anderson County, whose county seat is Clinton.

Chattanooga corner and the Georgia line

• Hamilton County – county seat: Chattanooga dominates the Tennessee–Georgia corner on the Tennessee River gorge.

• Bradley County, with its county seat in Cleveland, and Polk County, with its county seat in Benton, extend east toward the Ocoee and Hiwassee rivers.

• Marion County – county seat: Jasper touches the Alabama and Georgia approaches along Nickajack Lake.

Knoxville and the Ridge-and-Valley counties

• Knox County – county seat: Knoxville sits where I-40 and I-75 meet.

• Surrounding counties run in parallel valleys:

  • Anderson (Clinton) and the research city of Oak Ridge;

  • Union (Maynardville) and Grainger (Rutledge) to the north;

  • Jefferson (Dandridge) and Sevier (Sevierville) to the east, gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains;

  • Blount County – county seat: Maryville, at the park’s foothills;

  • Loudon County – county seat: Loudon, and Monroe County – county seat: Madisonville, along Tellico Lake;

  • Roane (Kingston) and Morgan (Wartburg) westward on the plateau edge.

The northeast tip: Tri-Cities and the Clinch/Appalachian counties

• Hamblen County – county seat: Morristown lies just above Douglas Lake.

• Hawkins County – county seat: Rogersville, and Hancock County – county seat: Sneedville trace the Clinch River and Powell Mountain.

• Sullivan County – county seat: Blountville, includes Kingsport and the Bristol twin cities at the Virginia line;

• Washington County – county seat: Jonesborough, with major city Johnson City;

• Carter County – county seat: Elizabethton abuts the North Carolina high country;

• Unicoi County – county seat: Erwin covers the Nolichucky gorge;

• Greene County – county seat: Greeneville is a large valley county.

• Cocke County – county seat: Newport straddles I-40 at the NC border;

• Claiborne County – county seat: Tazewell, and Campbell County – county seat: Jacksboro ride the rugged northern rim;

• Scott County – county seat: Huntsville closes the plateau arc back toward Fentress.

How to read this Tennessee map like a local

1. Start with rivers. Trace the Mississippi on the west, the Tennessee River arc through Hardin, Decatur, Benton, and the Cumberland loop through Nashville.

2. Use the four interstates lightly (I-40, I-24, I-65, I-75) only to place the big hubs Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Cookeville, Knoxville, Chattanooga without letting roads overwhelm the county view.

3. Scan county seats in bold, then associate nearby towns: e.g., Gallatin with Hendersonville in Sumner, Lebanon with Mt. Juliet in Wilson, Franklin with Brentwood in Williamson.

4. Compare regions: the West Tennessee alluvial plain, the Nashville Basin and Highland Rim, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Ridge-and-Valley up to the Smokies.