Nashville is in Tennessee, specifically in the north-central part of the state, in a region Tennesseans call Middle Tennessee. It’s the state capital and has been since 1843, when it was made the permanent seat of government after years of the capital rotating between Knoxville, Murfreesboro, and Nashville itself.
Tennessee is bordered by eight states: Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri across the Mississippi River to the west. Nashville sits near the Kentucky border, roughly in the geographic center of the state’s east-to-west span, though politically and culturally it anchors the middle third.
The City-County Setup
This is worth understanding because it trips people up. Nashville technically refers to the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, a consolidated city-county entity created in 1963, when Nashville became the first major U.S. city to merge its government with the surrounding county. The formal name is Metro Nashville, and the governing area covers Davidson County’s 526 square miles. Within that boundary sit six smaller incorporated municipalities, Belle Meade, Berry Hill, Forest Hills, Oak Hill, and portions of Goodlettsville and Ridgetop, but for all practical purposes, if you’re in Davidson County, you’re in Nashville.
The city proper had a population of approximately 705,000 as of 2024. The broader Nashville metropolitan statistical area, which stretches across 13 Middle Tennessee counties including Rutherford, Williamson, Wilson, and Sumner, has over 2.1 million people. The even wider combined statistical area crosses 2.15 million. These distinctions matter because “Nashville” in everyday conversation can mean anywhere from the immediate downtown to the outer suburban counties depending on who’s talking.
Middle Tennessee, Not East or West
Tennessee is divided into three Grand Divisions, East, Middle, and West, and the divisions aren’t just geographic. They carry distinct cultural and political identities. East Tennessee is Appalachian, Republican in its historical roots, and shaped by mountain geography. West Tennessee is flatter, tied to the Mississippi River and Memphis, and has a different agricultural history. Middle Tennessee, where Nashville sits, is the state’s economic and political center.
Nashville sits in the Nashville Basin, a geological depression surrounded on all sides by the Highland Rim, a ring of higher terrain that gives the city its famously hilly character. The Cumberland River runs through it, and the elevation in Davidson County ranges from 385 feet at the riverbank to 1,163 feet in the Radnor Lake area. People who visit expecting flat Southern terrain are usually surprised by how much topography there is.
Tennessee Without Nashville
It’s worth noting that Tennessee runs on two time zones, Nashville and the western half operate on Central Time, while Knoxville and the eastern portion are on Eastern Time. The dividing line follows roughly the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau. This matters if you’re driving across the state: it’s nearly 500 miles from Memphis to Kingsport, with a time zone change along the way.
Tennessee became the 16th state in 1796. Nashville was incorporated as a city in 1806 and became state capital permanently in 1843. The Tennessee State Capitol building, completed in 1859 in Greek Revival style, sits on a hill in downtown Nashville and remains one of the oldest working capitol buildings in the country.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Nashville-Davidson metropolitan government, 2024 estimates
- Metro Nashville Government, consolidated city-county history
- Tennessee Secretary of State, state history and capital records
- Tennessee Department of Transportation, time zone boundary information
- National Park Service, Tennessee State Capitol historical records