Skip to content
riveryas
EN

River

Tennessee River

1,049 km from source to mouth · United States.

United StatesUnited StatesFlows into Ohio River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthChattanooga
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

1,049km

Average flow

2,000m³/s

Basin

104,000km²

Drop

156m

from 250 m to 94 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

1,049 km of river and 57 stops on the way: 14 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

250 m94 m
Holston Riverat 250 m0 km
Tellico Reservoir100 km²71 km
East Chattanooga154,024 people270 km
Chattanooga181,099 people271 km
Guntersville Lake167 km²456 km
Beaver Lake6.2 km²526 km
Wilson Lake58 km²599 km
Pickwick Lake156 km²683 km
Alvin C. York Bridge794 km
Duck Rivertributary833 km
Lake Barkley255 km²969 km
Ohio Riverat 94 m1,049 km
02505007501,049 km
  1. 0 kmHolston Riverat 250 m
  2. 4 kmHolston Rivertributary
  3. 4 kmFrench Broad Rivertributary
  4. 9 kmJames C. Ford Memorial Bridge
  5. 10 kmGay Street Bridge
  6. 11 kmKnoxville190,740 people
  7. 11 kmHenley Street Bridge
  8. 14 kmJames E. "Buck" Karnes Bridge
  9. 35 kmLittle Rivertributary
  10. 51 kmFarragut21,919 people
  11. 71 kmTellico Reservoir100 km²
  12. 72 kmLenoir City9,091 people
  13. 76 kmLittle Tennessee Rivertributary
  14. 123 kmClinch Rivertributary
  15. 216 kmHiwassee Rivertributary
  16. 217 kmTennessee Highway 60 Bridge
  17. 262 kmWatts Bar Lake111 km²
  18. 263 kmWilkes T. Thrasher Bridge
  19. 263 kmTenbridge
  20. 265 kmC.B. Robinson Bridge
  21. 267 kmRed Bank11,769 people
  22. 270 kmEast Chattanooga154,024 people
  23. 271 kmChattanooga181,099 people
  24. 273 kmVeterans Memorial Bridge
  25. 273 kmWalnut Street Bridge
  26. 274 kmMarket Street Bridge
  27. 274 kmP. R. Olgiati Bridge
  28. 290 kmSignal Mountain8,528 people
  29. 337 kmNickajack Lake39 km²
  30. 347 kmShelby Reinhart Bridge
  31. 354 kmBridgeport Lift Bridge
  32. 354 kmBridgeport Swing Bridge
  33. 400 kmComer Bridge
  34. 444 kmGuntersville8,385 people
  35. 456 kmGuntersville Lake167 km²
  36. 478 kmFlint Rivertributary
  37. 482 kmClement C. Clay Bridge
  38. 526 kmBeaver Lake6.2 km²
  39. 527 kmCaptain William J. Hudson "Steamboat Bill" Memorial Bridges
  40. 527 kmDecatur55,437 people
  41. 528 kmNorfolk Southern Tennessee River Bridge
  42. 560 kmElk Rivertributary
  43. 574 kmCottonwood Pond155 km²
  44. 599 kmWilson Lake58 km²
  45. 601 kmEast Florence35,733 people
  46. 603 kmMemphis & Charleston Railroad Bridge
  47. 603 kmFlorence40,026 people
  48. 607 kmSheffield9,108 people
  49. 610 kmTuscumbia Landing Site
  50. 610 kmTuscumbia8,474 people
  51. 683 kmPickwick Lake156 km²
  52. 794 kmAlvin C. York Bridge
  53. 833 kmDuck Rivertributary
  54. 901 kmBig Sandy Rivertributary
  55. 969 kmLake Barkley255 km²
  56. 971 kmKentucky Lake575 km²
  57. 972 kmIC Tennessee River Bridge (Gilbertsville, Kentucky)
  58. 1,005 kmPaducah24,864 people
  59. 1,049 kmOhio Riverat 94 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in the southeastern United States

At the mouth it carries 1,998 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.3 seconds. It drops from 250 m to 94 m, 0.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 104,000 km², about the size of IS. 29.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to April. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (27% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • KnoxvilleLargest city on its banks · 190,740 people
  • McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 18 km from the cityCar hire at TYS airport (Knoxville/Maryville)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water412 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe13 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • April, June and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit

Tennessee River, month by month

Highest water: from February to April

Best months to visit: April, June and from August to October.

12,600
3°121 mmJan
14,600
5°120 mmFeb
15,800
10°151 mmMar
14,000
15°122 mmApr
12,100
19°125 mmMay
9,100
24°101 mmJun
6,200
26°118 mmJul
4,200
25°90 mmAug
3,400
22°99 mmSep
3,500
15°82 mmOct
5,700
10°118 mmNov
10,000
5°137 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 3,400 m³/s in the lowest month to 15,800 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at TYS airport (Knoxville/Maryville)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Tennessee River: the basin in numbers

524,459 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 27% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 29.3millionpeople live in the basin
  • 57/km²people per km²
  • 350maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,178mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 11.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas
  • 0.8%covered by lakes
  • 66km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 60% Forest
  • 32% Cropland
  • 5% Pasture
  • 4% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Tennessee River: what you find on the way

  • 33DamsFort Loudoun Lake, Fort Loudoun Dam, Tellico Dam and 30 more
  • 5Weirs
  • 21LocksFort Loudoun Lock and Dam, Tennessee River, Watts Bar Lock and Dam and 18 more
  • 3WaterfallsRainbow Falls 40, Julia Falls 95, Blowing Wind Falls
  • 12RapidsPennyroyal Shoals, Paint Rock Shoals, Mill Shoals and 9 more
  • 1Canoe put-ins
  • 333Boat rampsAbandon Boat Launch, Blythe Ferry Boat Ramp, Bear Branch Boat Launch and 330 more
  • 4Ferry piersThe Southern Belle and 3 more
  • 72MarinasVolunteer Landing Marina, Caney Creek Marina, Marina Store/Gas Station and 69 more
  • 3Boat rentalsRivers Sports at the Cove, L2 Outside
  • 6River beachesChester Frost Park Beach, Harrison Bay Park Beach, Booker T. Washington Park Beach and 3 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Tennessee River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 10lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 36mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (10)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Tellico Reservoirkm 69100km²
  2. Watts Bar Lakekm 257111km²
  3. Guntersville Lakekm 447167km²
  4. Cottonwood Pondkm 563155km²
  5. Wilson Lakekm 58758km²
  6. Pickwick Lakekm 670156km²
  7. Lake Barkleykm 951255km²
  8. Kentucky Lakekm 953575km²

2 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (36)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mary Hill7.8 km away361m
  2. Barber Hill10 km away
  3. Betsy Mountain9.1 km away
  4. Bowman Mountain8.1 km away
  5. Brickyard Mountain12 km away
  6. Brown Mountain5.7 km away
  7. Buzzard Hill8.5 km away
  8. Case Mountain9.7 km away

28 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Tennessee River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Tennessee River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth99 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Tennessee River in pictures

Tn River Bridge Natchez Trace
Dailynetworks at English Wikipedia · Public domain
Tennessee-river-source-tn1
Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0
A distant view of Blythe Ferry overlooking the Tennessee River (3624cf9f-0e65-4940-a037-b8478032a028)
National Trails Office ( US National Park Service ) · Public domain
Fort Loudoun Lake subdivisions in Louisville, Tennessee
AppalachianCentrist · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Ohio RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,579 km8,000 m³/s

Tributaries (19)

Also: Clinch River, Little Tennessee River, French Broad River, Holston River, Duck River, Hiwassee River, Elk River, Big Sandy River, Little River, Sequatchie River, Flint River, Cypress Creek, Clarks River, Paint Rock River, White Oak Creek, Bear Creek, South Chickamauga Creek, Short Creek, Indian Creek

In the same basin

Mississippi RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,766 km12,700 m³/sMissouri RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/sArkansas RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,364 km240 m³/sRed RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/sYellowstone RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,114 km390 m³/sPlatte RiverUnited StatesUnited States500 km200 m³/sCanadian RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,458 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited StatesUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited StatesUnited States523 km560 m³/sCumberland RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,107 km860 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Cumberland RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,107 km860 m³/s13 km awayWabash RiverUnited StatesUnited States960 km1,000 m³/s90 km awayMissouri RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/s235 km awayIllinois RiverUnited StatesUnited States432 km660 m³/s267 km awayKentucky RiverUnited StatesUnited States417 km280 m³/s347 km awaySt. Francis RiverUnited StatesUnited States686 km400 m³/s328 km awayOsage RiverUnited StatesUnited States444 km310 m³/s340 km awayArkansas RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,364 km240 m³/s433 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q193737) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit