Whitest cities in Tennessee research summary. We analyzed Tennessee’s most recent Census data to determine the whitest cities in Tennessee based on the percentage of White residents.
96.9% White · #1 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Hawkins County, Tennessee
Mount Carmel is a town located in Hawkins County, Tennessee. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 5,429, an increase of 634 since the 2000 census. It is part of the Kingsport-Bristol -Bristol Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the “Tri-Cities” region.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
96.5% White · #2 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Hawkins County, Tennessee
Church Hill is a city in Hawkins County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 5,916 at the 2000 census and 6,737 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kingsport-Bristol -Bristol Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the “Tri-Cities” region.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
93.3% White · #3 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Robertson County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
92.8% White · #4 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Signal Mountain is a town in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The town is a suburb of Chattanooga and is located on Walden Ridge, a land mass often mistakenly referred to as “Signal Mountain” itself. Signal Mountain is also used as a colloquial name for part of the Walden Ridge close to the town. The town population was 7,554 as of the 2010 census. The population for zip code 37377 was 15,310 as of the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
92.6% White · #5 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Soddy-Daisy is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 11,530 at the 2000 census and 12,714 at the 2010 census. The city was formed in 1969 when the communities of Soddy and Daisy, along with nearby developed areas along U.S. Highway 27, merged to form Soddy-Daisy. It is rapidly becoming a bedroom community of nearby Chattanooga and is part of the Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area. Sequoyah Nuclear Generating Station is located in Soddy-Daisy.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
92.1% White · #6 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Campbell County, Tennessee
LaFollette is a city in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 7,456 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2014 of 7,131. It is the principal city of the LaFollette, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Campbell County, and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area. While the city’s official spelling is one word -after its founders, Harvey Marion LaFollette and his younger brother Grant LaFollette-several federal agencies spell the city’s name with two words.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
90.5% White · #7 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Roane County, Tennessee
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States. It had a population of 5,934 at the 2010 United States census, and is included in the Harriman Micropolitan Statistical Area. Kingston is adjacent to Watts Bar Lake.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
90.3% White · #8 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Roane County, Tennessee
Rockwood is a city in Roane County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 5,562 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
90.2% White · #9 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Sumner County, Tennessee
Portland is a city in Sumner and Robertson counties in Tennessee. The population was 11,486 in 2010 according estimates by the U.S. census bureau and in 2013 the population was 11,933. Portland is a part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
90.0% White · #10 whitest in Tennessee
Located in
Unicoi County, Tennessee
Erwin is a town in and the county seat of Unicoi County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,097 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the “Tri-Cities” region.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Tennessee’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Tennessee’s White population is concentrated
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the whitest places in Tennessee for 2026
To rank the whitest places in Tennessee, we used Saturday Night Science to look at Census demographic data.
We had to look at the number of white people living in each city in Tennessee on a per capita basis. In other words, the percentage of white people living in each city in Tennessee.
We looked at table B03002: Hispanic OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names as defined by the Census:
- Hispanic or Latino
- White alone*
- Black or African American alone*
- American Indian and Alaska Native alone*
- Asian alone*
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone*
- Some other race alone*
- Two or more races*
Our particular column of interest here was the number of people who identified as White alone.
We limited our analysis to places with a population greater than 5,000 people. That left us with 92 cities.
We then calculated the percentage of residents that are White. The percentages ranked from 96.9% to 22.4%.
Finally, we ranked each city based on the percentage of the White population, with a higher percentage being more White. Mount Carmel took the distinction of being the most White, while Memphis was the least White city.
We updated this article for 2026. This report represents our eleventh time ranking the whitest cities in Tennessee.
The full plate
Cities In Tennessee By White Population
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | White Population | % White |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Carmel | 5,472 | 5,301 | 96.9% |
| 2 | Church Hill | 7,139 | 6,890 | 96.5% |
| 3 | Greenbrier | 6,971 | 6,507 | 93.3% |
| 4 | Signal Mountain | 8,860 | 8,226 | 92.8% |
| 5 | Soddy-Daisy | 13,231 | 12,258 | 92.6% |
| 6 | La Follette | 7,273 | 6,700 | 92.1% |
| 7 | Kingston | 6,224 | 5,634 | 90.5% |
| 8 | Rockwood | 5,566 | 5,028 | 90.3% |
| 9 | Portland | 13,449 | 12,129 | 90.2% |
| 10 | Erwin | 5,988 | 5,389 | 90.0% |
| 11 | Clinton | 10,239 | 9,176 | 89.6% |
| 12 | Elizabethton | 14,374 | 12,872 | 89.6% |
| 13 | Bristol | 27,636 | 24,745 | 89.5% |
| 14 | Kingsport | 56,262 | 50,172 | 89.2% |
| 15 | Farragut | 24,634 | 21,849 | 88.7% |
| 16 | Jefferson City | 8,579 | 7,574 | 88.3% |
| 17 | Crossville | 12,428 | 10,901 | 87.7% |
| 18 | Lawrenceburg | 11,844 | 10,252 | 86.6% |
| 19 | Maryville | 32,392 | 28,018 | 86.5% |
| 20 | Munford | 6,588 | 5,636 | 85.5% |
| 21 | Greeneville | 15,646 | 13,311 | 85.1% |
| 22 | White House | 14,631 | 12,442 | 85.0% |
| 23 | Tullahoma | 21,103 | 17,876 | 84.7% |
| 24 | Newport | 6,881 | 5,742 | 83.4% |
| 25 | Germantown | 40,673 | 33,779 | 83.1% |
| 26 | Spring Hill | 55,765 | 45,768 | 82.1% |
| 27 | Nolensville | 15,074 | 12,370 | 82.1% |
| 28 | Sweetwater | 6,532 | 5,360 | 82.1% |
| 29 | Dayton | 7,625 | 6,241 | 81.8% |
| 30 | Johnson City | 72,222 | 59,111 | 81.8% |
| 31 | Savannah | 7,412 | 6,063 | 81.8% |
| 32 | Fairview | 10,009 | 8,160 | 81.5% |
| 33 | Lexington | 7,962 | 6,481 | 81.4% |
| 34 | Red Bank | 12,010 | 9,662 | 80.4% |
| 35 | Harriman | 6,090 | 4,893 | 80.3% |
| 36 | Brentwood | 45,556 | 36,503 | 80.1% |
| 37 | Oak Ridge | 32,693 | 25,931 | 79.3% |
| 38 | Hartsville/Trousdale County | 11,957 | 9,460 | 79.1% |
| 39 | Dickson | 16,424 | 12,973 | 79.0% |
| 40 | Manchester | 12,944 | 10,191 | 78.7% |
| 41 | Hendersonville | 63,091 | 49,574 | 78.6% |
| 42 | Lenoir City | 11,110 | 8,686 | 78.2% |
| 43 | Cookeville | 36,088 | 28,213 | 78.2% |
| 44 | Millersville | 5,836 | 4,550 | 78.0% |
| 45 | Atoka | 10,385 | 8,096 | 78.0% |
| 46 | McMinnville | 13,844 | 10,695 | 77.3% |
| 47 | Arlington | 15,205 | 11,703 | 77.0% |
| 48 | Athens | 14,471 | 11,126 | 76.9% |
| 49 | Winchester | 9,799 | 7,466 | 76.2% |
| 50 | Lewisburg | 12,861 | 9,754 | 75.8% |
| 51 | McKenzie | 5,631 | 4,266 | 75.8% |
| 52 | Paris | 10,338 | 7,820 | 75.6% |
| 53 | Mount Juliet | 42,073 | 31,668 | 75.3% |
| 54 | Franklin | 87,133 | 64,787 | 74.4% |
| 55 | Henderson | 6,411 | 4,762 | 74.3% |
| 56 | Cleveland | 48,829 | 35,873 | 73.5% |
| 57 | Martin | 10,915 | 7,757 | 71.1% |
| 58 | Knoxville | 195,185 | 137,641 | 70.5% |
| 59 | Alcoa | 12,222 | 8,562 | 70.1% |
| 60 | Collegedale | 11,330 | 7,928 | 70.0% |
| 61 | Lebanon | 44,788 | 31,207 | 69.7% |
| 62 | Lakeland | 14,192 | 9,858 | 69.5% |
| 63 | Bartlett | 56,876 | 39,136 | 68.8% |
| 64 | Oakland | 9,979 | 6,775 | 67.9% |
| 65 | Sevierville | 18,397 | 12,486 | 67.9% |
| 66 | Milan | 8,244 | 5,590 | 67.8% |
| 67 | Columbia | 45,441 | 30,492 | 67.1% |
| 68 | Fayetteville | 7,057 | 4,730 | 67.0% |
| 69 | Gallatin | 48,532 | 32,314 | 66.6% |
| 70 | Collierville | 51,515 | 34,148 | 66.3% |
| 71 | East Ridge | 22,070 | 14,556 | 66.0% |
| 72 | Pulaski | 8,285 | 5,447 | 65.7% |
| 73 | Morristown | 31,527 | 20,556 | 65.2% |
| 74 | Dyersburg | 15,979 | 10,417 | 65.2% |
| 75 | Union City | 10,982 | 6,980 | 63.6% |
| 76 | Murfreesboro | 161,445 | 101,549 | 62.9% |
| 77 | Pigeon Forge | 6,375 | 3,630 | 56.9% |
| 78 | Goodlettsville | 17,597 | 9,811 | 55.8% |
| 79 | Chattanooga | 185,783 | 103,085 | 55.5% |
| 80 | Clarksville | 176,456 | 96,320 | 54.6% |
| 81 | Shelbyville | 24,661 | 13,355 | 54.2% |
| 82 | Smyrna | 56,692 | 30,186 | 53.2% |
| 83 | Millington | 11,289 | 5,698 | 50.5% |
| 84 | Springfield | 19,255 | 8,960 | 46.5% |
| 85 | Jackson | 68,435 | 31,257 | 45.7% |
| 86 | Humboldt | 7,787 | 3,444 | 44.2% |
| 87 | La Vergne | 40,243 | 17,360 | 43.1% |
| 88 | Covington | 8,587 | 3,641 | 42.4% |
| 89 | Ripley | 7,658 | 2,994 | 39.1% |
| 90 | Bolivar | 5,144 | 1,528 | 29.7% |
| 91 | Brownsville | 9,622 | 2,314 | 24.0% |
| 92 | Memphis | 618,980 | 138,561 | 22.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 92 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: White Populations Across Tennessee
We measured the locations with the highest percentage of white people in Tennessee. According to the most recent data, this list provides accurate information on the whitest places in Tennessee.
The most White cities in Tennessee are Mount Carmel, Church Hill, Greenbrier, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy, La Follette, Kingston, Rockwood, Portland, and Erwin. Not sold on Tennessee? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Whitest Cities In Tennessee FAQs
What is the whitest city in Tennessee?
Mount Carmel is the whitest city in Tennessee for 2026, with White residents making up 96.9% of the population. Church Hill and Greenbrier are next.
What are the 10 whitest cities in Tennessee?
The ten whitest cities in Tennessee are Mount Carmel, Church Hill, Greenbrier, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy, La Follette, Kingston, Rockwood, Portland, and Erwin. We ranked all 92 places with more than 5,000 residents by their White share of the population.
What percent of Mount Carmel is White?
White residents make up 96.9% of Mount Carmel, the highest share of the 92 Tennessee places we measured. The numbers come from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
What is the least White city in Tennessee?
Memphis is the least White city in Tennessee, at 22.4% White residents. It sits at the opposite end of the same ranking.
Where does this data come from?
Every share is calculated from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2020-2024), based on residents identifying as White alone. We rank each Tennessee place with more than 5,000 residents.
