Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee (after Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville), and the seat of Hamilton County[3]. Located in southeastern Tennessee on Chickamauga Lake and Nickajack Lake, which are both part of the Tennessee River, Chattanooga lies approximately 120 miles to the northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, about 135 miles to the southeast of Nashville, and about 148 miles to the northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. Chattanooga abuts the Georgia border, and the region is where three major interstate highways, I-24, I-75, and I-59, meet.

Electric power for most of the city and surrounding area is provided by the city-run Electric Power Board (EPB). Beginning in the summer of 2009, the EPB is also providing high-speed Internet service, video, and telephone service to business and residential customers throughout Hamilton County.The TVA operates the nearby Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant, Chickamauga Dam and the Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Plant all of which provide electricity to the greater Chattanooga area.Natural gas and water are provided by the privately run Chattanooga Gas Company and Tennessee-American Water Company, respectively. In 2005 Mayor Ron Littlefield stated his desire for the city to purchase the Tennessee-American Water Company, , which was sold in a public offering in 2007. Former Mayor Jon Kinsey's attempts to have the city buy control of Tennessee-American Water were defeated in court.