Tennessee business phone guide

Tennessee by the numbers

Tennessee had 7.2 million residents in the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate, up 4.6% from April 2020. The U.S. population grew 2.6% over the same period. County Business Patterns counted 150,129 business establishments in the state in 2023 with 2,971,417 mid-March employees and $175.8 billion in annual payroll. The average establishment has 19.8 employees. 48.3% of establishments with employees had fewer than five people. The three largest sectors by establishments are retail trade (23,463), health care and social assistance (17,524), and other services (except public administration) (15,554).

How Tennessee's businesses compare

Tennessee has 20.8 business establishments per 1,000 residents, 15.5% below the U.S. figure of 24.6. Establishments average 19.8 employees against 16.7 nationally, and payroll per employee is $59,170 (13.4% below the U.S. $68,342). 48.3% of establishments with employees have fewer than five people (U.S.: 55.5%), while 6.6% have 50 or more. Averages are pulled up by large employers; the size table is the better guide to what a typical business here looks like.

Area codes in Tennessee

NANPA lists 8 geographic area codes in service in Tennessee, with 3,797 central office codes assigned across 341 rate centers and held by 104 carriers. 615 has the most assigned codes (781). 4 of them are part of overlays. The newest in service is 729, since September 5, 2025.

Small-business industries in Tennessee

Among the 141 phone-heavy small-business industries these guides cover, the largest in Tennessee by establishment count are limited-service restaurants (5,735), full-service restaurants (4,962), and physician practices (4,291). Each links to a page with metro breakdowns, team sizes and phone costs for that industry in Tennessee.

Metro and micropolitan areas

27 Census metro or micropolitan areas include part of Tennessee. The largest is Nashville, TN with 2.2 million residents.

Choosing an area code in Tennessee

6 of Tennessee's 8 area codes require ten-digit dialing for local calls; in the others NANPA still lists seven-digit local dialing. In overlays (615/629 and 423/729), the codes share one territory, so a new number may come from any code in the overlay. A business that serves one city usually takes a number in that city's dominant code; one that covers a region can hold up to 3 local numbers on Callata's plan.

Largest Tennessee cities for local numbers

171 Tennessee cities and towns have their own local-number page. The most populous are Nashville-Davidson (615/629), Memphis (901), Knoxville (865), and Chattanooga (423).

What phone service costs a Tennessee business

The comparison below uses 20 users, the rounded average establishment size in Tennessee. At list prices checked September 28, 2026, that is $499.00 a month on Ooma Office Pro and $600.00 on RingCentral RingEX Core. On Callata the same 20 people cost $399.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

Callata in Tennessee

Callata Office costs $99 per month for up to 5 people, and each additional user is $20 a month. That covers up to 3 local numbers, calling from a browser or your cell, transcribed voicemail, recorded calls with AI summaries, after-hours routing and E911 on each number.

If you already have a number in Tennessee, porting it to Callata is free. Texting from a local number requires a one-time carrier registration (10DLC, $49), and the numbers available in any area code depend on carrier inventory when you choose them.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.