County Maps US

Shelby County, Tennessee

The most populous of Tennessee's 95 counties.

CountyFIPS 47157

Within Tennessee
Shelby County, highlighted, with the areas around it. Boundaries generalised from the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file; neighbour fills carry no data. The dot marks Memphis, the county seat, located via the 2025 Census Gazetteer.

Download SVGFull Tennessee map downloads

Population
910,226
-19,494 (-2.1%) since 2020
Land area
752.8
square miles. A further 3.7% of the total area is water
Population density
1,209
people per square mile, computed rather than published
County seat
Memphis
Seat of county government.
Established
1819
206 years ago
Largest city
Memphis city
Population 609,647.

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; Wikidata (CC0), Wikidata. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

Satellite view

Aerial imagery of Shelby County with its boundary drawn on top. A map shows you the shape; this shows you what is inside it, and which side of the line a place falls on.

Aerial view of Shelby County, Tennessee from the USGS National Map, with its boundary outlined
Imagery: USGS National Map, USGS Imagery Only, public domain, requested from USGS by your browser when you reach this point on the page, at 800 by 621 pixels. The boundary is the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file, reprojected to Web Mercator to match the imagery. You can also open the USGS National Map viewer.

Where Shelby County ranks

Position among the 95 counties of Tennessee, and among all 3,144 US counties and county-equivalents. Computed from the figures on this page.

MeasureValueIn TennesseeNationally
Population910,2261st of 9565th of 3,144
Land area752.8 sq mi1st of 951,170th of 3,144
Population density1,209 per sq mi2nd of 95132nd of 3,144
Median household income$63,76729th of 951,724th of 3,143

Full data for Shelby County

Every figure below is attributed to the Census Bureau product it came from, with the vintage of that product.
MeasureValueSource and vintage
Population910,226Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Population in 2020929,720Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
2020 estimates base?930,012Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Land area752.8 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Water area28.8 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Total area781.6 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Population density?1,209 per sq miComputed: Vintage 2025 estimates divided by 2025 Gazetteer land area
Median household income$63,767American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median home value$249,100American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median age35.9American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Households362,741American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Housing units404,333American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates, released 29 January 2026. Population density is computed here, not published: it divides the Vintage 2025 population estimate by the 2025 Gazetteer land area, which are two different Census products. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

How the population changed

The Census Bureau publishes the components behind an estimate, not just the total. For the year to July 2025:

Births minus deaths
+2,750
12,317 births, 9,567 deaths
Net migration
-7,896
More people moved out than moved in.

Source: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

The 6 areas bordering Shelby County

Ordered by the length of the border actually shared, which the Census Bureau publishes in its county adjacency file and which no other county reference presents.

Bordering areaStateShared borderPopulation
Crittenden CountyArkansas51 mi46,210
DeSoto CountyMississippi33 mi197,918
Tipton CountyTennessee31 mi62,287
Fayette CountyTennessee27 mi45,071
Marshall CountyMississippi4.6 mi34,654
Mississippi CountyArkansas0.9 mi37,828

Source: US Census Bureau, County Adjacency File, 2025 County Adjacency File, released 15 September 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

All 95 counties of Tennessee

Open the interactive Tennessee county map, or jump straight to any of them.

Data on this page last rebuilt 30 August 2026. How these figures are produced.