Missouri vs Tennessee

The two states, county by county

Both maps share one density scale, so the same shade means the same number of people per square mile on either side of the border. Darker counties are denser. Select a county to open its page.

Side by side

Population and density

Tennessee has 7,227,750 residents, 16% more than Missouri's 6,245,466. Missouri ranks 19th and Tennessee 15th of the 50 states and DC. Tennessee is the more crowded, with 175.3 people per square mile against 90.8, 93% more.

Land area

Missouri has 68,746 square miles of land, 67% more than Tennessee's 41,224. The largest county-equivalent in Missouri is Texas County at 1,177 square miles; in Tennessee it is Shelby County at 753.

Counties

Missouri is divided into 115 county-equivalents and Tennessee into 95, so an average Missouri county covers 598 square miles against 434. The typical county in Missouri has 19,100 residents, against 32,883 in Tennessee. The most populous are St. Louis County (992,929) and Shelby County (910,530).

31 county names appear on both sides of the border: Benton, Carroll, Carter, Clay, DeKalb, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Perry, Polk, Putnam, Scott, Shelby, Sullivan, Warren, Washington, Wayne. Use the FIPS code, not the name, when joining data across the two states.

Household income

The typical county household income is about the same in both: $56,121 in Missouri and $57,630 in Tennessee. The highest county incomes are St. Charles County ($98,765) in Missouri and Williamson County ($136,007) in Tennessee, from SAIPE 2023.

Capitals and daylight

Jefferson City and Nashville are 340 miles apart in a straight line; from Jefferson City the initial bearing is 118°, ESE. On June 21, 2026, Jefferson City gets 14 h 52 min of daylight and Nashville 14 h 37 min; on December 21 the figures are 9 h 28 min and 9 h 42 min. Month by month tables are on the Jefferson City and Nashville daylight pages.

Where they sit

The border between them is also a Census region boundary: Missouri is in the Midwest and Tennessee in the South. By county internal points, Missouri spans 2 UTM zones and Tennessee 2.