Tennessee ranks #25 among US states for total patents filed in 2021, with 3,683 patents from 2,117 inventors across 199 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 2021
| Rank | City | Patents | Inventors |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Knoxville, TN | 579 | 352 |
| #2 | Nashville, TN | 510 | 316 |
| #3 | Memphis, TN | 364 | 210 |
| #4 | Germantown, TN | 195 | 68 |
| #5 | Collierville, TN | 138 | 52 |
| #6 | Franklin, TN | 135 | 85 |
| #7 | Brentwood, TN | 118 | 56 |
| #8 | Kingsport, TN | 103 | 57 |
| #9 | Oak Ridge, TN | 87 | 65 |
| #10 | Cordova, TN | 84 | 44 |
| #11 | Chattanooga, TN | 74 | 55 |
| #12 | Murfreesboro, TN | 73 | 42 |
| #13 | Johnson City, TN | 56 | 30 |
| #14 | Cookeville, TN | 47 | 35 |
| #15 | Elder Mountain, TN | 39 | 21 |
| #16 | Lakeland, TN | 37 | 14 |
| #17 | Arlington, TN | 34 | 11 |
| #18 | Elizabethton, TN | 34 | 7 |
| #19 | Lenoir City, TN | 30 | 16 |
| #20 | Hendersonville, TN | 30 | 22 |
| #21 | Spring Hill, TN | 26 | 18 |
| #22 | Bartlett, TN | 25 | 18 |
| #23 | Jackson, TN | 24 | 15 |
| #24 | South Pittsburg, TN | 23 | 3 |
| #25 | Loudon, TN | 22 | 10 |