Tennessee ranks #26 among US states for total patents filed in 2019, with 3,491 patents from 2,154 inventors across 206 cities. On a per-capita basis that is 0.5 patents per 1,000 residents, a standard benchmark for comparing state-level R&D intensity.
Top Cities in Tennessee 2019
| Rank | City | Patents | Inventors |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Knoxville, TN | 571 | 345 |
| #2 | Nashville, TN | 494 | 331 |
| #3 | Memphis, TN | 360 | 199 |
| #4 | Germantown, TN | 151 | 67 |
| #5 | Collierville, TN | 144 | 64 |
| #6 | Oak Ridge, TN | 121 | 77 |
| #7 | Brentwood, TN | 118 | 66 |
| #8 | Franklin, TN | 117 | 80 |
| #9 | Kingsport, TN | 87 | 53 |
| #10 | Chattanooga, TN | 77 | 53 |
| #11 | Cordova, TN | 66 | 38 |
| #12 | Cookeville, TN | 47 | 35 |
| #13 | Murfreesboro, TN | 42 | 32 |
| #14 | Elder Mountain, TN | 39 | 20 |
| #15 | Arlington, TN | 35 | 17 |
| #16 | Maryville, TN | 34 | 22 |
| #17 | Johnson City, TN | 31 | 17 |
| #18 | Hendersonville, TN | 30 | 22 |
| #19 | Lakeland, TN | 30 | 10 |
| #20 | Jonesborough, TN | 29 | 18 |
| #21 | Spring Hill, TN | 25 | 20 |
| #22 | Bartlett, TN | 25 | 19 |
| #23 | Loudon, TN | 23 | 14 |
| #24 | Signal Mountain, TN | 22 | 16 |
| #25 | Cleveland, TN | 20 | 17 |