Tennessee welcomed the eighth-largest number of new residents among all U.S. states in 2025 with 63,785 people added to the population, making it about 7.3 million.
That’s down from a record single-year population jump of 98,200 in 2024, according to University of Tennessee, Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research’s Tennessee State Data Center.
The growing population follows a trend that has remained consistent for several years, as Tennessee continues its evolution into an economic powerhouse with multiple major population centers. The state's total population has grown by about 400,000 people since 2020.
Which counties and school districts are growing the fastest?
The Middle Tennessee region led the way with Davidson, Rutherford and Wilson
counties, respectively, bringing in the highest number of new residents last year, according to the data center’s most recently available new resident counts. In 2025, Davidson grew to 745,904 residents; 386,352 Rutherford County residents were counted; and Wilson County had a population of 175,033.
Other Middle Tennessee counties in the top 10 fastest-growing of 2025 are: Maury County, No. 5 with 118,131 people; Montgomery County, No. 6 with 249,935 residents; Williamson County, No. 7 with 272,061 and Sumner County, No. 9 with 215,528 people. Dickson County, meanwhile, is growing by about 1% per year with an estimated population of 57,739 in 2025.
Rural areas across Tennessee have grown impressively, the Boyd Center report found. Cookeville, in Putnam County, was highlighted as a key growth area.
“Growth in rural counties like Maury, Putnam, Bedford and Coffee is occurring well beyond the suburban edge, bringing attention to the affordability and quality-of-life factors that might be behind it,” State Data Center officials said in a statement. "The state’s 78 rural counties have matched or outpaced the growth rate of its 17 urban counties every year this decade."
But as Middle Tennessee counties have grown, counties in West Tennessee have been in decline.
While Shelby County is still the largest in Tennessee, it lost thousands of residents in 2025. Memphis was the only large city in Tennessee to lose residents between 2020 and 2025. Though the change was not as dramatic, Hardeman, Haywood, Tipton, Dyer and Obion Counties all lost a modest number of residents in 2025.
Middle Tennessee school district enrollment, from 2020-2025
The fastest-growing Middle Tennessee school districts from 2020 to 2025 were Wilson County and Lebanon, Rutherford County and Montgomery County, according to Tennessee Department of Education enrollment data.
Here's how enrollment changed across eight Middle Tennessee school districts from 2020 to 2025:
- Wilson County and Lebanon Schools grew from 22,473 in 2020 to 24,802 students in 2025, a 10.4% increase.
- Rutherford County Schools grew 9.5%, from 46,850 to 51,318 students over the five-year period.
- Montgomery County Schools increased enrollment 7.6%, from 35,932 to 38,636 students.
- Maury County Schools saw a 0.9% increase, from 12,635 to 12,752 students.
- Williamson County and Franklin Schools enrollment decreased by 138 students from 2020 to 2025, from 44,157 to 44,019, a -0.3% decline.
- Metro Nashville and Davidson County Public School enrollment dropped 5.2%, from 82,283 in 2020 to 78,040 in 2025.
- Cheatham County Schools enrollment dropped by 9.6%, from 5,881 to 5,318.
- Robertson County Schools reduced by 11.7%, with 12,383 in 2020 dropping to 10,935 in 2025.
Molly Davis covers growth and development in Nashville. You can email her with comments, questions and tips at mmdavis@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Middle TN counties fuel Tennessee's latest population boom
