See where in Tennessee student loan forgiveness has been most popular
Close to half a million Tennesseans applied for President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief program, according to an analysis of data obtained by Politico under the Freedom of Information Act.
About 486,500 state residents submitted applications — about 2% of the nationwide total — during the four weeks the program was live last year before being halted by federal court orders. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide in the coming months over the fate of the initiative seeking to provide up to $20,000 in debt relief to borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year.
Here is a breakdown of how many applications were filed in each county and what percentage of the adult population submitted paperwork:
[UPDATE: Due to a spreadsheet sorting error in an earlier version of this story, Maury and Madison counties ended up with a much higher percentage than they actually had. The correct figures are 11.1% and 10%, or fifth and sixth in the state, respectively).
| County | Applications | Percentage of Adults |
| Anderson | 4,355 | 7.2% |
| Bedford | 1,972 | 5.3% |
| Benton | 612 | 4.8% |
| Bledsoe | 316 | 2.5% |
| Blount | 7,017 | 6.5% |
| Bradley | 6,727 | 7.9% |
| Campbell | 1,529 | 4.9% |
| Cannon | 446 | 3.9% |
| Carroll | 1,329 | 6% |
| Carter | 1,827 | 4% |
| Cheatham | 2,589 | 8.1% |
| Chester | 730 | 5.4% |
| Claiborne | 1,762 | 6.8% |
| Clay | 110 | 1.8% |
| Cocke | 1,030 | 3.6% |
| Coffee | 2,789 | 6.4% |
| Crockett | 581 | 5.5% |
| Cumberland | 1,851 | 3.7% |
| Davidson | 68,775 | 12.1% |
| Decatur | 304 | 3.4% |
| DeKalb | 650 | 4.1% |
| Dickson | 2,944 | 7% |
| Dyer | 1,955 | 7% |
| Fayette | 2,360 | 6.9% |
| Fentress | 440 | 3% |
| Franklin | 1,317 | 3.8% |
| Gibson | 3,305 | 8.7% |
| Giles | 1,388 | 5.8% |
| Grainger | 737 | 3.9% |
| Greene | 2,478 | 4.4% |
| Grundy | 128 | 1.2% |
| Hamblen | 2,973 | 6% |
| Hamilton | 28,940 | 10% |
| Hancock | 139 | 2.6% |
| Hardeman | 1,332 | 6.5% |
| Hardin | 716 | 3.4% |
| Hawkins | 2,079 | 4.6% |
| Haywood | 1,273 | 9.2% |
| Henderson | 779 | 3.6% |
| Henry | 1,521 | 5.9% |
| Hickman | 885 | 4.5% |
| Houston | 415 | 6.4% |
| Humphreys | 908 | 6.1% |
| Jackson | 242 | 2.6% |
| Jefferson | 2,735 | 6.2% |
| Johnson | 394 | 2.6% |
| Knox | 34,323 | 9.1% |
| Lake | 120 | 2% |
| Lauderdale | 1,477 | 7.6% |
| Lawrence | 1,955 | 5.9% |
| Lewis | 396 | 4% |
| Lincoln | 1,302 | 4.8% |
| Loudon | 2,614 | 5.9% |
| Macon | 738 | 3.9% |
| Madison | 7,842 | 10.2% |
| Marion | 1,375 | 6.1% |
| Marshall | 1,725 | 6.6% |
| Maury | 8,584 | 11.1% |
| McMinn | 2,438 | 5.8% |
| McNairy | 1,168 | 5.8% |
| Meigs | 679 | 6.7% |
| Monroe | 2,018 | 5.5% |
| Montgomery | 21,606 | 13.4% |
| Moore | 111 | 2.1% |
| Morgan | 599 | 3.5% |
| Obion | 1,297 | 5.4% |
| Overton | 554 | 3.1% |
| Perry | 228 | 3.5% |
| Pickett | 142 | 3.4% |
| Polk | 472 | 3.3% |
| Putnam | 5,332 | 8.5% |
| Rhea | 1,548 | 6.1% |
| Roane | 1,970 | 4.5% |
| Robertson | 5,263 | 9.5% |
| Rutherford | 29,770 | 11.6% |
| Scott | 854 | 5.1% |
| Sequatchie | 569 | 4.5% |
| Sevier | 4,384 | 5.6% |
| Shelby | 95,224 | 13.7% |
| Smith | 392 | 2.5% |
| Stewart | 737 | 6.9% |
| Sullivan | 8,439 | 6.6% |
| Sumner | 12,934 | 8.6% |
| Tipton | 4,350 | 9.4% |
| Trousdale | 411 | 4.3% |
| Unicoi | 698 | 4.8% |
| Union | 562 | 3.6% |
| Van Buren | 159 | 3.2% |
| Warren | 1,687 | 5.4% |
| Washington | 9,450 | 8.8% |
| Wayne | 310 | 2.3% |
| Weakley | 1,717 | 6.5% |
| White | 1,177 | 5.5% |
| Williamson | 12,458 | 6.9% |
| Wilson | 10,019 | 8.9% |
