{"id":7702,"date":"2023-09-08T14:50:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T14:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=7702"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:30:20","slug":"mcminn-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/mcminn-county\/","title":{"rendered":"McMinn County, Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>McMinn County is a county in Tennessee, United States, about 50 miles southwest of Knoxville and<br \/>\n50 miles northeast of Chattanooga. It had a population of 53,276 at the 2020 census, an estimated<br \/>\n57,404 by 2025, and covers 432 square miles (1,120 km2) centred near 35\u00b025\u2032N 84\u00b037\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Athens is the county seat; its postal code is 37303. The county holds 4 cities, 2 incorporated<br \/>\ntowns and 2 census-designated places, plus 8 unincorporated communities, and it runs on Eastern<br \/>\nTime. Its FIPS code is 47107.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in McMinn County<\/h2>\n<p>McMinn County has 14 named places on record: 6 incorporated cities and towns, 2 census-designated<br \/>\nplaces (CDPs), and 8 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. Tennessee<br \/>\ndoes not use civil townships, so this table has no township column.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Athens<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>14,084<\/td>\n<td>37303<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sweetwater<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>6,312<\/td>\n<td>37874<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Etowah<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>3,603<\/td>\n<td>37331<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Englewood<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>1,483<\/td>\n<td>37329<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Riceville<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>688<\/td>\n<td>37371<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Niota<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>772<\/td>\n<td>37826<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Calhoun<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>536<\/td>\n<td>37309<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Delano<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>37325<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Claxton<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Conasauga<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Goodsprings<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Liberty Hill<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mount Verd<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Reagan<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Spring Creek<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Williamsburg<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Two places on this list straddle county lines. Sweetwater&#8217;s population figure above is<br \/>\ncitywide &mdash; most of the city and its downtown core sit in neighboring Monroe County, with<br \/>\nonly a northern edge reaching into McMinn. Delano runs the same way: it is chiefly an<br \/>\nunincorporated community in Polk County, with a small portion crossing into McMinn&#8217;s southeast<br \/>\ncorner, so its own population is not counted here.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>37303 &mdash; Athens (the county&#8217;s main post office)<\/li>\n<li>37371 &mdash; Athens\/Riceville (a shared rural-route ZIP)<\/li>\n<li>37331 &mdash; Etowah<\/li>\n<li>37874 &mdash; Sweetwater<\/li>\n<li>37329 &mdash; Englewood<\/li>\n<li>37826 &mdash; Niota<\/li>\n<li>37309 &mdash; Calhoun<\/li>\n<li>37325 &mdash; Delano (administered from Polk County)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Claxton, Conasauga, Goodsprings, Liberty Hill, Mount Verd, Reagan, Spring Creek and Williamsburg<br \/>\nhave no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town&#8217;s<br \/>\ncode.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>McMinn County sits in Tennessee&#8217;s Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachians, a series of<br \/>\nparallel forested ridges separated by narrow farming valleys. Of its 432 square miles, 430 are<br \/>\nland and 2.1 are water, about 0.5 percent &mdash; the county has no large natural lake, and most<br \/>\nof its surface water is the Hiwassee River, which forms part of the southern boundary with Bradley<br \/>\nCounty. The Hiwassee flows west out of the mountains toward its confluence with the Tennessee<br \/>\nRiver a few miles beyond the county line.<\/p>\n<p>Roane County lies to the north, Loudon County to the northeast, Monroe County to the east, Polk<br \/>\nCounty to the southeast, Bradley County to the southwest, and Meigs County to the west. <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/roane-county\/\">Roane County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/loudon-county\/\">Loudon County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/monroe-county-tennessee\/\">Monroe County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/polk-county-tennessee\/\">Polk County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/bradley-county\/\">Bradley County<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/meigs-county\/\">Meigs County<\/a> all border McMinn directly.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>McMinn County had a population of 53,276 at the 2020 census, and the latest Census Bureau<br \/>\nestimate puts the county near 57,404 residents by 2025. Athens and Sweetwater are the two largest<br \/>\ncommunities, together holding well over a third of the county&#8217;s population. Median household<br \/>\nincome runs about $61,470 (2024 vintage, Data USA), well below Tennessee&#8217;s statewide figure of<br \/>\n$67,631 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 124 people per square mile of land,<br \/>\nmoderate for a rural East Tennessee county astride an interstate corridor.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 6,277 people, followed by retail<br \/>\ntrade at 3,071 and health care and social assistance at 2,635. Waupaca Foundry runs a large<br \/>\nautomotive and farm-equipment casting plant in Etowah, on the site of the town&#8217;s old<br \/>\nLouisville &amp; Nashville Railroad shops. Athens is home to Tennessee Wesleyan University,<br \/>\nfounded in 1857, and the McMinn County Higher Education Center. Englewood&#8217;s economy grew up<br \/>\naround textile mills; the last major operation, Allied Hosiery, closed in 2008, and the town now<br \/>\nruns the Englewood Textile Museum on Main Street to preserve that history. The county&#8217;s<br \/>\nbiggest annual event is Athens&#8217;s Vintage Days heritage festival each October, centred on the<br \/>\ndowntown historic district.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>McMinn County was organised in 1819, formed from land ceded by the Cherokee under the 1819<br \/>\nCalhoun Treaty, and named for Joseph McMinn, a Revolutionary War militia commander and Tennessee<br \/>\ngovernor. Athens was laid out and chosen as the county seat in 1822. The town of Calhoun, on the<br \/>\nHiwassee River, is named for John C. Calhoun, who negotiated that treaty.<\/p>\n<p>The county voted against secession in 1861 even as it supplied soldiers to both Union and<br \/>\nConfederate armies during the Civil War. In 1920, state representative Harry T. Burn, a McMinn<br \/>\nCounty native, cast the deciding vote in the Tennessee legislature ratifying the Nineteenth<br \/>\nAmendment and granting American women the right to vote. In August 1946, World War II veterans in<br \/>\nAthens staged an armed confrontation with the county&#8217;s political machine, besieging the jail<br \/>\nto stop election fraud &mdash; an episode remembered as the Battle of Athens, and one of the only<br \/>\narmed uprisings against a sitting local government in US history.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>Interstate 75 crosses the county&#8217;s western half, running past Calhoun and Riceville. US 11<br \/>\nruns through Niota, Athens and Sweetwater; US 411 crosses the county through Englewood and Etowah,<br \/>\nalong with state routes 30, 39, 68 and 163.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Knoxville &mdash; about 50 miles northeast<\/li>\n<li>Chattanooga &mdash; about 50 miles southwest<\/li>\n<li>Cleveland &mdash; about 20 miles south<\/li>\n<li>Sweetwater to Athens &mdash; about 15 miles northeast along US 11<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>McGhee Tyson Airport, near Knoxville and roughly 45 miles northeast of Athens, is the nearest<br \/>\nmajor commercial airport. Athens-McMinn County Airport, on the north side of Athens, handles<br \/>\ngeneral aviation traffic. McMinn County has no active Amtrak service; the nearest station is in<br \/>\nChattanooga.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is McMinn County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt sits in Tennessee&#8217;s Ridge and Valley province, about halfway between Knoxville and<br \/>\nChattanooga, bordered by Roane, Loudon, Monroe, Polk, Bradley and Meigs counties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of McMinn County?<\/strong><br \/>\n53,276 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 57,404.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is McMinn County?<\/strong><br \/>\n432 square miles (1,120 km2), of which 430 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of McMinn County?<\/strong><br \/>\nAthens, chosen as county seat in 1822, is the largest city and seat of government.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns and cities are in McMinn County?<\/strong><br \/>\nSix incorporated places &mdash; Athens, Sweetwater (partly), Etowah, Englewood, Niota and Calhoun<br \/>\n&mdash; plus two census-designated places, Riceville and Delano (partly), and eight unincorporated<br \/>\ncommunities: Claxton, Conasauga, Goodsprings, Liberty Hill, Mount Verd, Reagan, Spring Creek and<br \/>\nWilliamsburg.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does McMinn County use?<\/strong><br \/>\n37303 and 37371 for Athens and Riceville; 37331 for Etowah; 37874 for Sweetwater; 37329 for<br \/>\nEnglewood; 37826 for Niota; and 37309 for Calhoun.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is McMinn County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe 1946 Battle of Athens, when WWII veterans overturned a corrupt county government by force, and<br \/>\nHarry T. Burn&#8217;s 1920 deciding vote for national women&#8217;s suffrage.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/tennessee\/\">Towns and villages in Tennessee<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McMinn County is a county in Tennessee, United States, about 50 miles southwest of Knoxville and 50 miles northeast of Chattanooga. It had a population of 53,276 at the 2020 census, an estimated 57,404 by 2025, and covers 432 square miles (1,120 km2) centred near 35\u00b025\u2032N 84\u00b037\u2032W. Athens is the county seat; its postal code [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in McMinn County, Tennessee","_seopress_titles_desc":"All 14 towns and communities in McMinn County, Tennessee - type, population and ZIP code for each, plus Athens and the 1946 Battle of Athens.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-7702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-tennessee","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7702"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9461,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7702\/revisions\/9461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}