Published November 3, 2026

Upper Cumberland TN

Written by Shannon Gomez

Discovering Tennessee's Upper Cumberland: Outdoors, Economy & Tennessee Tech

Nov 3, 2026 · @Shannon Gomez

Welcome to the Upper Cumberland

Tucked between Nashville and Knoxville, the Upper Cumberland is a 14-county stretch of Middle Tennessee where the Highland Rim climbs onto the Cumberland Plateau. It's a land of deep gorges, thundering waterfalls, big reservoirs, and small towns with long memories — and it's growing fast.

The region is usually defined as Cannon, Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, Warren, and White counties. Cookeville, the Putnam County seat, is its commercial and medical hub, sitting right on Interstate 40 about 80 miles from Nashville and 100 from Knoxville. Other anchor towns include Crossville, McMinnville, Sparta, Livingston, Jamestown, Smithville, Gainesboro, and Lafayette.

What ties it all together is the Cumberland River system and the rugged plateau edge. That geography shapes everything here: where people play, what they build, and how the economy has grown.

Outdoor Life and Adventures

If you love the outdoors, the Upper Cumberland is hard to beat. The official regional visitors' guide counts a long string of state parks plus a share of the 125,000-acre Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. Better still, these parks draw a fraction of the crowds you'll find in the Smokies.

Waterfall country

The region claims more than 100 waterfalls, one of the densest clusters in the country. A few you shouldn't miss:

Fall Creek Falls State Park (Van Buren and Bledsoe counties): one of Tennessee's largest parks at over 26,000 acres. Its namesake falls drop 256 feet, the highest free-falling waterfall east of the Mississippi.
Burgess Falls State Park (near Sparta): a short, steep trail along the Falling Water River passes a series of falls ending in a dramatic 130-foot plunge.
Cummins Falls State Park (Jackson County): a 75-foot falls with a plunge pool that Travel + Leisure ranked among the top swimming holes in the U.S. Getting there means wading the gorge, so check the park's permit and water-level rules before you go.
Rock Island State Park (Warren and White counties): the Twin Falls pour straight out of a cliff face, created when the reservoir behind Great Falls Dam pushed the Collins River through underground caves.
Virgin Falls State Natural Area (near Sparta): a rugged 9-mile round-trip hike to a waterfall that emerges from a cave and disappears into a sink.

Lakes, rivers and fishing

The Army Corps of Engineers' dams created a chain of big, clear reservoirs. Dale Hollow Lake is legendary among anglers as the home of the world-record smallmouth bass. Center Hill Lake near Smithville and Cordell Hull Lake near Carthage are favorites for houseboating, skiing, and marina weekends. For paddlers, the Caney Fork River below Center Hill Dam is a classic float with cold, trout-filled water.

Hiking, caving and dark skies

Big South Fork offers backcountry hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and whitewater on the Cumberland Plateau's wildest river gorge.
Pickett CCC Memorial State Park is a certified International Dark Sky Park, one of the best places in the Southeast to see the Milky Way.
Cumberland Caverns near McMinnville offers wild caving tours and even concerts in an underground ballroom.
Cumberland Mountain, Standing Stone, Edgar Evins, and Cordell Hull round out the park lineup with campgrounds, cabins, and lakeside trails.

In Cookeville itself, a growing network of greenways links neighborhoods to parks and the Tennessee Tech campus. The region's four seasons make fall foliage and spring wildflower hikes especially worth planning around.

The Economy of the Upper Cumberland

The Upper Cumberland runs on a blend of manufacturing, healthcare, education, logistics, agriculture, and tourism. The region covers about 5,093 square miles and roughly 340,000 people, and most of its employers are small businesses.

A hub and its hinterland

Cookeville is the engine. It is the largest of Tennessee's 20 micropolitan areas, and about 25,000 people commute in daily to work, shop, or attend school. A 2025 economic development study describes the split well: Cookeville anchors professional services, healthcare, education, retail, and hospitality, while the surrounding counties lean on agriculture, resource extraction, and manufacturing. Putnam County had about 84,900 residents in 2024, and continued growth is expected to eventually make the Cookeville area a full metropolitan statistical area.

Key sectors

Manufacturing: Still the backbone. State workforce planners project manufacturing will remain the dominant industry in the Upper Cumberland through 2030, with about 22,500 jobs. Cookeville alone has more than 100 plants employing over 8,000 people.
Healthcare and education: Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, school systems, and Tennessee Tech are among the largest employers in nearly every county.
Transportation and logistics: Sitting on I-40, the region is within a day's drive of about two-thirds of the U.S. population. That's why trucking giant Averitt Express is headquartered here.
Agriculture and nurseries: Warren County, centered on McMinnville, is known as the "Nursery Capital of the World" for its hundreds of plant and tree nurseries. Cattle, hay, and row crops remain important across the rural counties.
Tourism and retirement: State parks, lakes, and resort communities like Fairfield Glade near Crossville draw visitors and retirees, supporting hospitality, construction, and real estate.

Growth and challenges

New investment keeps arriving. In February 2026, rubber products maker Durable Products announced 134 new jobs and a $27.3 million expansion in Crossville. Big national retailers like Target and Home Depot have also announced Cookeville stores.

The region still faces hurdles. Its rugged karst terrain complicates industrial site development, and educational attainment trails the state average. Local leaders also point to a "brain drain": many Tennessee Tech graduates leave because there aren't yet enough high-tech anchor employers to keep them.

The Big Companies and Major Employers

The region's biggest employers are a mix of hospitals, schools, and global manufacturers, with a few homegrown success stories. Employee counts below are recent estimates from state and local economic development sources.

Employer	Location	Industry	Approx. employees
Cookeville Regional Medical Center	Cookeville	Healthcare	1,600
Tennessee Tech University	Cookeville	Higher education	1,500
Averitt Express	Cookeville (HQ)	Trucking and logistics	1,150
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations	Morrison (Warren Co.)	Truck and bus tires	1,000+
Atmus / Cummins Filtration	Cookeville	Filtration products	950
Yorozu Automotive Tennessee	Morrison (Warren Co.)	Auto suspension parts	500+
Durable Products	Crossville	Rubber products	Adding 134 jobs (2026)

Averitt Express is the region's best-known homegrown company. Founded in Cookeville, it has grown into one of the largest privately held freight carriers in the country, and its headquarters remains a point of local pride.

Bridgestone's Warren County plant is one of the company's most productive operations worldwide. It produced its 70 millionth tire in October 2021, and a $550 million expansion added 380 jobs. Nearby, Yorozu Automotive builds suspension components largely for Nissan.

Beyond the giants, Cookeville is home to a cluster of engineering-driven firms. These include ATC Automation, Tutco, Flowserve, Ficosa, Aphena Pharma, Research Electronics International, and aerospace startup Whisper Aero. Public school systems are also among the largest employers in nearly every county.

Tennessee Tech University

Tennessee Tech in Cookeville is the region's flagship university and one of its most important economic engines. This fall it enrolled 10,773 students, its highest total since 2015.

A brief history

The school traces its roots to Dixie College, a private school founded in Cookeville in the early 1900s. The state took it over in 1915 as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and it became Tennessee Technological University in 1965. It is now Tennessee's only polytechnic university.

Academics

Engineering is Tech's calling card. The College of Engineering set an all-time enrollment record of 3,239 students in fall 2025, and it again posted the biggest gain in fall 2026. Concentrations range from mechanical, civil, and electrical to aerospace, mechatronics, robotics, and a newly added nuclear engineering track.

The top five undergraduate programs are mechanical engineering, nursing, computer science, civil and environmental engineering, and biology. The Whitson-Hester School of Nursing is a standout: 125 Tech graduates passed the NCLEX licensing exam in 2025, a near-perfect 95% pass rate. Tech has also won approval for a new architecture program.

Tech is ranked the top public university in Tennessee by Money.com and appears on U.S. News & World Report's "Best National Universities" list.

Its role in the region

With about 1,500 employees, Tech is one of the Upper Cumberland's largest employers. Recent construction, including new science and engineering buildings and a new football stadium, has given the local building trades a major boost.

Tech also feeds the regional workforce. It supplies engineers and business talent to employers like Averitt, ATC Automation, Atmus, Tutco, and Flowserve. Its nurses staff Cookeville Regional Medical Center, and its education graduates teach in area schools. Through its Center for Rural Innovation and partnerships like the Biz Foundry, Tech helps local entrepreneurs turn ideas into companies.

And of course, there's game day. The Golden Eagles compete in NCAA Division I, giving Cookeville a lively college-town atmosphere.

Why the Upper Cumberland?

Few places in Tennessee pack this much variety into one region. You can spend the morning swimming below a waterfall, the afternoon on a houseboat, and the evening at a Golden Eagles game or a downtown Cookeville restaurant.

The region's mix of global manufacturers, homegrown companies like Averitt, a respected polytechnic university, and a lower cost of living makes it a smart place to build a career or a business. And with Nashville about 90 minutes away, you're never far from big-city amenities.

Whether you're planning a weekend getaway or thinking about putting down roots, the Upper Cumberland is worth a closer look.