[9] The Marion County portion of Monteagle is part of the Chattanooga–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Franklin County portion is part of the Tullahoma, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area.

In the Jerry Reed song "The Legend", which is the opening track in the film Smokey and the Bandit, Reed tells the story of the Bandit miraculously surviving brake failure on the "Monteagle Grade".

The town is home to DuBose Conference Center and the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly.

Rosa Parks attended workshops there shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

One of the last groups of Cherokees removed from the Southeastern United States along the Trail of Tears passed through what is now Monteagle en route to Oklahoma in late October 1838.

This group consisted of approximately 700 Cherokee led by John Bell and escorted by U.S. Army Lieutenant Edward Deas.

The town straddles a narrow stretch of the Cumberland Plateau known colloquially as "Monteagle Mountain".

[15] This stretch of the plateau is approximately 2 miles (3 km) wide, with steep drop-offs to the northwest and southeast.

[5] By comparison, two nearby cities, Cowan (to the northwest) and South Pittsburg (to the southeast), lie at elevations of less than 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level.

U.S. Route 41A branches off from US 41 in Monteagle and leads southwest 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to Sewanee.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,393 people, 614 households, and 458 families residing in the town.