Madison County publishes less about septic permitting than any of Tennessee’s nine contract counties, and being straight about that is more useful than pretending otherwise. There is a fee schedule. It has an effective date. It is not online, and no amounts are published anywhere we could find.
So this page tells you exactly who permits, exactly what is knowable, exactly what is not, and the one phone number that will actually get you an answer.
Who Issues the Permit
The county states it directly:
The Jackson Madison County Health Department, Environmental Health Section, regulates the permitting of new conventional sewage disposal systems
Madison County, Tennessee
⚠️ Note the word conventional. That wording may imply advanced or alternative systems are handled differently, or elsewhere. We are flagging it as a question to ask rather than writing it up as a rule, because the county does not say.
| Office | Jackson Madison County Health Department, Environmental Health Section |
| Phone | 731-423-3020 |
| Street address | Not published on the county’s septic pages — call before traveling |
| Hours | Not published |
We could have filled that table in from a health department press release, but the address on it is for the health department generally and we could not confirm it is where environmental health takes septic applications. An address that sends you to the wrong building is worse than no address.
The Fee Schedule That Exists But Is Not Published
This is the county’s own wording:
All fees associated with services are in the Fee Schedule for Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems and Ground Water Services for the Jackson-Madison County Health Department effective July 1, 2018.
Madison County, Tennessee
So: a named document, with a stated effective date of July 1, 2018, referenced but not linked and not reproduced. We searched for it and could not find it published anywhere.
We are therefore not publishing a single Madison County dollar figure. That is a deliberate choice. For comparison, the contract counties that do publish charge $300 for a new permit in Sevier County, $440 in Hamilton County and $175 in Shelby County — a spread wide enough that guessing Madison’s from its neighbors would be worthless. Ring 731-423-3020.
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What Governs Your System Here
Madison is one of nine Tennessee contract counties — with Blount, Davidson, Hamilton, Jefferson, Knox, Sevier, Shelby and Williamson — that permit septic systems themselves rather than through TDEC. The authority is Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-221-403(a)(10), and TDEC’s own guidance notes that contract counties “may require an additional permit.”
The limit on that authority, at § 68-221-403(a)(10)(B): county standards “must be at least as stringent as those of the state law and regulations.” Stricter is allowed; more lenient is not.
Because Madison County publishes no local regulation we could locate, the substantive rules that apply to you are the state ones — Tennessee Rule 0400-48-01, which runs to 24 sections. If a page cites 1200-1-6, that is the old chapter number; it was renumbered to 0400-48-01, effective September 18, 2013.
⚠️ But note the asymmetry: we could not find a Madison County regulation is not the same as there is none. Shelby County’s two-acre minimum only appears in a departmental FAQ, and Shelby’s full regulation is a scan with no searchable text. Local requirements can exist and still be invisible online. Ask the office what applies to your parcel.
What We Could Not Verify
- Any fee amount. The schedule is referenced with a July 1, 2018 effective date and is not online.
- The street address and office hours of the environmental health office.
- Any Madison County septic ordinance or regulation. Every search returned a different state’s Madison County.
- How alternative and advanced systems are handled, given the county’s reference to “conventional” systems specifically.
- The list of approved soil scientists. The county page offers one; the link did not resolve.
- Any septic-to-sewer or homeowner assistance program. None published.
- Any count of septic systems in the county. Not published; we will not estimate one.
If you work in the Jackson Madison County Health Department and can supply the fee schedule or the office details, we will publish them and show the date. This page will get better the moment anyone shares that document.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who issues septic permits in Madison County, Tennessee?
The Jackson Madison County Health Department, Environmental Health Section, which states that it regulates the permitting of new conventional sewage disposal systems. The phone number is 731-423-3020. Madison is one of nine Tennessee contract counties that permit their own systems rather than routing through TDEC, alongside Blount, Davidson, Hamilton, Jefferson, Knox, Sevier, Shelby and Williamson, under Tenn. Code Ann. section 68-221-403(a)(10). Note the word conventional in the county s own wording; it may mean advanced or alternative systems are handled differently, and the county does not say, so ask.
How much does a septic permit cost in Madison County?
The county does not publish the amounts. It refers to a Fee Schedule for Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems and Ground Water Services effective July 1, 2018, but that document is not online and we could not locate it published anywhere. We are therefore not publishing a Madison County figure. For scale, contract counties that do publish charge $175 in Shelby County, $300 in Sevier County and $440 in Hamilton County, a spread wide enough that guessing Madison s from a neighbor would be worthless. Call 731-423-3020.
Why do searches show different Madison County septic fees?
Because they are showing you other states. There are Madison Counties in more than a dozen states, and several rank well. The site at madisoncohd.com is Madison County Kentucky, based in Richmond, and publishes a $250 site evaluation and a $370 sewage permit. The site at madisoncountyhealth.org is Madison County North Carolina, in Marshall. Searches also surface Madison County Ohio and Montana. The correct Tennessee domain is madisoncountytn.gov. If you have been quoted $250 or $370 for a Madison County septic permit, you are almost certainly reading Kentucky s fees.
What septic rules apply in Madison County?
Because no Madison County regulation could be located, the substantive rules that apply are the state ones: Tennessee Rule 0400-48-01, which runs to 24 sections. If a page cites 1200-1-6, that is the old chapter number, renumbered to 0400-48-01 effective September 18, 2013. One important caveat, though. Not finding a county regulation is not the same as there being none. Shelby County s two-acre minimum appears only in a departmental FAQ, and Shelby s full regulation is published as a scan with no searchable text. Local requirements can exist and still be invisible online, so ask the office what applies to your specific parcel.
Can the state override a Madison County septic requirement?
In an individual case, yes, since April 15, 2025. Public Chapter 208 added section 68-221-403(a)(10)(F), under which the TDEC commissioner may issue a variance inside a contract county that shall supersede any more stringent local requirement. It cannot apply to a sewerage system regulated under section 69-3-108, to a system serving multiple lots, or to any lot containing more than one single-family dwelling with accessory buildings, so it is single-lot, single-family relief. The commissioner may also require a granted variance to be recorded with the county register of deeds. In a county where local requirements are hard to establish in advance, knowing this route exists is worth more than usual.
Is there a Madison County septic-to-sewer or assistance program?
None is published that we could find, for the county or for the City of Jackson. That is an absence of findable published material rather than verified absence of a program, so it is worth asking when you call about fees. Also unavailable: the office street address, its hours, any count of septic systems in the county, and the county s list of approved soil scientists, which is referenced on its page but whose link did not resolve. We would rather tell you what is missing than fill the gaps with guesses.