Tennessee ranks #25 among US states for total patents filed in 2023, with 3,672 patents from 2,194 inventors across 213 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 2023
| Rank | City | Patents | Inventors |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Knoxville, TN | 589 | 355 |
| #2 | Nashville, TN | 454 | 307 |
| #3 | Memphis, TN | 416 | 225 |
| #4 | Germantown, TN | 168 | 72 |
| #5 | Oak Ridge, TN | 164 | 117 |
| #6 | Franklin, TN | 127 | 82 |
| #7 | Collierville, TN | 121 | 60 |
| #8 | Kingsport, TN | 101 | 62 |
| #9 | Cordova, TN | 85 | 36 |
| #10 | Elder Mountain, TN | 84 | 35 |
| #11 | Brentwood, TN | 75 | 40 |
| #12 | Murfreesboro, TN | 67 | 40 |
| #13 | Johnson City, TN | 49 | 23 |
| #14 | Chattanooga, TN | 49 | 36 |
| #15 | Cookeville, TN | 47 | 37 |
| #16 | Bartlett, TN | 40 | 22 |
| #17 | Arlington, TN | 36 | 11 |
| #18 | Lakeland, TN | 31 | 16 |
| #19 | Oakland, TN | 27 | 5 |
| #20 | Signal Mountain, TN | 27 | 13 |
| #21 | Gallatin, TN | 26 | 21 |
| #22 | Jackson, TN | 24 | 17 |
| #23 | Mount Juliet, TN | 23 | 16 |
| #24 | Spring Hill, TN | 23 | 18 |
| #25 | Dyersburg, TN | 22 | 5 |