Tennessee
Buying Land in Shelby County, Tennessee
Shelby County, anchored by Memphis on the Mississippi River, is Tennessee's most populous and most urban county by a wide margin. This isn't a rural land-buying market, and we won't pretend otherwise -- what follows is a brief, honest look at the small unincorporated-fringe land market that does exist, plus the joint city-county planning framework that makes zoning here distinctive.
An honest starting point: this is Memphis's county, not a rural land market
Shelby County is Tennessee's most populous county by a wide margin, anchored by Memphis on the bluffs above the Mississippi River at the point where Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi meet. Unlike most of the counties covered on this site, Shelby County is not, in any meaningful sense, a rural land-buying market -- the overwhelming majority of the county is built out as urban or suburban Memphis, with the kind of raw-acreage, farmland, or recreational-land purchase that defines rural land buying elsewhere in Tennessee playing a genuinely minor role here. We think it's more useful to say that plainly than to force a rural-land framing onto a county where it doesn't fit.
That said, a smaller land market does exist toward the county's edges, in unincorporated areas away from the dense urban core -- around communities like Eads, Arlington, and parts of the Millington area to the north -- where lower-density residential, some agricultural, and larger-lot property is more common. If that's the kind of parcel you're evaluating, confirm current annexation status directly: Memphis and its surrounding suburban municipalities have adjusted city limits over time, and a parcel's current jurisdiction (unincorporated Shelby County versus a specific municipality) directly determines which zoning and permitting rules apply.
A joint city-county planning framework, genuinely distinctive to Shelby County -- and currently being rewritten
Unlike most Tennessee counties, where a city's zoning and a county's zoning are entirely separate systems, Memphis and Shelby County operate under a joint planning arrangement -- a Unified Development Code (UDC) covering both the city and unincorporated county, originally adopted in the 2010 era -- reflecting just how dominant Memphis is within the county's overall land area and population. What makes this genuinely current and actionable rather than historical background: Memphis and Shelby County are in the middle of a full rewrite of that UDC. A Drafting Directions Report, assessing the current code's shortcomings and setting direction for the rewrite, was published in April 2025 after public meetings held through 2024 and 2025, and the project has since released a first public draft zoning map -- in both a 'Simplified' version showing proposed new districts and sample uses, and a 'Detailed' version showing exactly how a given area's zoning would change from current to proposed, complete with staff comments -- posted at the project's own site, 901udcupdate.com, for public review and comment.
This pass did not confirm a final adoption date for the rewritten code, so the existing UDC still governs any parcel today. But for a buyer evaluating land in Shelby County, particularly anything zoned or used in a way that depends on its specific district designation, this is a live process worth checking directly: look up your parcel on the draft zoning map to see whether its district is proposed to change, and confirm with the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development both the current zoning and the rewrite's current status and expected timeline before assuming today's rules -- or the draft rules -- will be the ones actually in effect when you're ready to build or develop.
Septic, water rights, and the rest of the statewide framework
Most of Shelby County is served by municipal sewer given how urbanized it is, but septic permitting for any unincorporated parcel not on municipal sewer runs through the Shelby County Health Department under the statewide TDEC Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems standard (Rule 0400-48-01) described on our Tennessee page -- confirmed via the health department's own septic-permitting page. Otherwise, Tennessee's statewide framework applies here as it does elsewhere: riparian, reasonable-use water rights govern any well or stream use on the smaller number of parcels where that's relevant, and state-level inspection rules apply to manufactured housing, though manufactured housing plays a minor role in this county's overwhelmingly urban housing stock.
For most buyers reading this page, the honest recommendation is to be clear about what you're actually looking for: if it's rural acreage, farmland, or recreational land in the conventional sense, look toward Shelby County's more rural neighbors or elsewhere in West Tennessee rather than the county itself.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Shelby County
This research session's WebSearch budget was exhausted and direct WebFetch to most external sites was blocked by network egress restrictions before this county could be reached with fresh source pulls, though one real search result did confirm the Shelby County Health Department's septic-permitting page URL. Confirm current zoning administration, staff, and fees directly before relying on this page.
Planning & Zoning
Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development
Current zoning district and permitted uses for a specific parcel, whether inside Memphis or in unincorporated Shelby County.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
Shelby County Health Department
Septic system site evaluations and permits under the statewide TDEC standard.
Recorder / Clerk / Land Records
Shelby County Register of Deeds
Recorded deeds, easements, and title history for a specific parcel.
Want to know if this specific parcel actually works?
Tell us what you're looking at and we'll connect you with a local land specialist who can help you sanity-check it before you go further.
Get local guidanceSources
- Shelby County, Tennessee — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Memphis, Tennessee — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Septic Tank Permitting Process — Shelby County Health Department, Tennessee (accessed 2026-09)
- Tennessee Code Title 13, Chapter 7, Part 1 -- County Zoning — Justia (Tennessee Code, official text mirror) (accessed 2026-09)
- Documents & Presentations -- City of Memphis & Shelby County Unified Development Code — City of Memphis & Shelby County UDC Update (accessed 2026-09)
- Draft Zoning Map Now Available! — City of Memphis & Shelby County UDC Update (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09