Tennessee ranks #25 among US states for total patents filed in 2016, with 2,979 patents from 1,913 inventors across 191 cities. On a per-capita basis that is 0.4 patents per 1,000 residents, a standard benchmark for comparing state-level R&D intensity.
Top Cities in Tennessee 2016
| Rank | City | Patents | Inventors |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Knoxville, TN | 471 | 309 |
| #2 | Nashville, TN | 331 | 217 |
| #3 | Memphis, TN | 316 | 184 |
| #4 | Kingsport, TN | 173 | 96 |
| #5 | Oak Ridge, TN | 128 | 84 |
| #6 | Germantown, TN | 125 | 62 |
| #7 | Collierville, TN | 123 | 68 |
| #8 | Franklin, TN | 85 | 64 |
| #9 | Brentwood, TN | 71 | 47 |
| #10 | Cordova, TN | 69 | 43 |
| #11 | Johnson City, TN | 52 | 26 |
| #12 | Chattanooga, TN | 43 | 28 |
| #13 | Cookeville, TN | 40 | 24 |
| #14 | Jonesborough, TN | 35 | 26 |
| #15 | Murfreesboro, TN | 35 | 29 |
| #16 | Maryville, TN | 29 | 15 |
| #17 | Jackson, TN | 28 | 18 |
| #18 | Bartlett, TN | 27 | 18 |
| #19 | Lakeland, TN | 24 | 12 |
| #20 | Bristol, TN | 24 | 16 |
| #21 | Arlington, TN | 22 | 15 |
| #22 | Signal Mountain, TN | 22 | 13 |
| #23 | Morristown, TN | 22 | 13 |
| #24 | Elizabethton, TN | 19 | 14 |
| #25 | Hendersonville, TN | 19 | 14 |