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Public FCC data
Do people in Tennessee report more spam calls than most states? They filed 3,417 FCC complaints in 12 months, seventh most per person.
From October 2025 to September 2026, people in Tennessee filed 3,417 unwanted-call complaints with the FCC, or 46.7 for every 100,000 residents, which ranks seventh among the 50 states and DC. 25% of the 1,572 caller IDs people reported were toll-free numbers, against 18% across the country.
- 3,417unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC by people in Tennessee, October 2025 to September 2026
- 46.7complaints for every 100,000 residents, seventh of 51 (the whole country: 36.6)
- 865the area code people there named most, on 193 complaints (Knoxville, Tennessee)
Source: Federal Communications Commission, CGB - Consumer Complaints Data (dataset 3xyp-aqkj), issue "Unwanted Calls", read on November 4, 2026. Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025. All sources.
People in Tennessee reported area code 865 most, and 4 of the 10 busiest area codes are in Tennessee.
Each row counts the complaints from people in Tennessee whose caller ID started with that code. 6 codes in the list are toll-free and belong to no place. Together these 10 codes account for 882 of the 1,572 complaints that gave a caller ID.
| Rank | Code | Where it is | In Tennessee? | Complaints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 865 | KnoxvilleIn Tennessee | Yes | 193 |
| 2 | 423 | Chattanooga, Johnson City and KingsportIn Tennessee | Yes | 126 |
| 3 | 615 | NashvilleIn Tennessee | Yes | 90 |
| 4 | 931 | Clarksville, Cookeville and ColumbiaIn Tennessee | Yes | 80 |
| 5 | 855 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 73 |
| 6 | 844 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 71 |
| 7 | 833 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 66 |
| 8 | 877 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 63 |
| 9 | 866 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 61 |
| 10 | 888 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 59 |
Monthly complaints from Tennessee ran from 269 in April to 453 in January.
October 2025 and November 2025 are shaded and dotted because the FCC file holds only 323 and 16,267 complaints of any kind in those months, against about 29,400 in a usual one.
Complaints from Tennessee by month
Unwanted-call complaints filed from Tennessee per month, October 2025 to September 2026.
- Complaints filed from Tennessee
- Months the FCC file is thin
| Month | All complaints |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | 1 |
| November 2025 | 192 |
| December 2025 | 281 |
| January 2026 | 453 |
| February 2026 | 313 |
| March 2026 | 328 |
| April 2026 | 269 |
| May 2026 | 282 |
| June 2026 | 291 |
| July 2026 | 305 |
| August 2026 | 363 |
| September 2026 | 339 |
Prerecorded calls make up 48% of the complaints from Tennessee, above the 41% across the country.
The FCC files robocalls, live callers and texts under one issue, "Unwanted Calls". The bar shows how the 3,417 complaints from Tennessee split by what the person says reached them.
What reached people in Tennessee
How the 3,417 complaints from Tennessee split.
- Prerecorded call48% · 1,638 complaints
- Live caller24% · 814 complaints
- Text message13% · 447 complaints
- Kind not stated15% · 518 complaints
Across the country the split is prerecorded call 41%, live caller 26%, text message 15%, kind not stated 17%.
About half of the US numbers people in Tennessee reported carry a Tennessee area code, 593 of 1,162 (51%), against 50% across the country.
Of 1,572 complaints that gave a caller ID, 593 named a Tennessee code, 569 a code from another state, 399 a toll-free code and 11 something else, such as a special-use code, a number abroad or a prefix that is not assigned.
Where the numbers people in Tennessee reported came from
Where the 1,572 caller ID numbers from Tennessee came from.
- Tennessee area codes38% · 593 complaints
- Other states' area codes36% · 569 complaints
- Toll-free codes25% · 399 complaints
- Other or not assigned1% · 11 complaints
After Tennessee, people there named New York, California and Florida codes most.
Tennessee ranks seventh of 51 for complaints per 100,000 people, between Virginia and North Carolina.
Colorado leads the list at 109.8 and North Dakota is last at 13.8. The 50 states and DC together file 36.6.
Tennessee next to the states ranked around it
Complaints for every 100,000 residents, the states ranked next to Tennessee.
Here is what to do when a spam call reaches you in Tennessee.
See why so many calls reach you
Quote forms, data brokers, leaked databases and recycled numbers are the routes callers use to find a number.
Check one number that called you
Paste it into the spam number lookup to see its line type, its carrier and a risk level.
Get a number with a Tennessee area code
Each of these area codes of Tennessee has a page that shows how to get a number in it that rings the phone you already carry.
These are the questions people ask about spam calls in Tennessee, answered from the data.
3,417 unwanted-call complaints from October 2025 to September 2026, which is 46.7 for every 100,000 residents. That ranks seventh among the 50 states and DC per person and 15th by total count.
865 (Knoxville, Tennessee) was named on 193 complaints, 12% of the complaints that gave a caller ID number. Next were 423 (Chattanooga, Johnson City and Kingsport, Tennessee) with 126 and 615 (Nashville, Tennessee) with 90.
About half do. 51% of the complaints that named a US area code carried a Tennessee code, against 50% across the country. After Tennessee, the area codes named most belonged to New York (76), California (55) and Florida (41). Caller ID can be faked, so a code shows what appeared on the phone, not where the caller was.
48% were about prerecorded calls, 24% about a live caller and 13% about text messages, and 15% did not say. Across the country the split is 41%, 26% and 15%.
About the same. People in Tennessee filed 1,007 complaints in July to September 2026, 8% fewer than the 1,094 in January to March 2026. For the whole country the change over the same months was up 28%.
File a complaint with the FCC's Consumer Help Center at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. Complaints filed there are the ones counted on this page, listed by the state of the person who filed. To report a scam or fraud call, use ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
A state with more people files more complaints just by being bigger. Dividing by the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 estimate for Tennessee (7,315,076 residents) puts every state on one scale, which is why Tennessee ranks seventh per person and 15th by total count.
Every number on this page comes from two public sources.
The complaints come from the FCC.
Federal Communications Commission, CGB - Consumer Complaints Data (dataset 3xyp-aqkj), issue "Unwanted Calls", filed October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, read from opendata.fcc.gov on November 4, 2026.
The population comes from the Census Bureau.
U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (NST-EST2025-POP), Vintage 2025 estimate for July 1, 2025, released January 2026, checked November 2026.
Data: FCC Consumer Complaints, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026, analysed by ExpressNumber. www.expressnumber.com/spam-calls-by-state/tennessee
See every state ranked
All 50 states and DC by complaints per 100,000 people, with Tennessee marked.
See which area codes send the most
The 25 busiest local area codes, the toll-free codes and a search of every code in the data.
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