Clairfield is located in the Clearfork Valley, a very rugged and remote area of northeastern Tennessee. The community occupies a relatively broad hollow along the Clear Fork just east of the Claiborne-Campbell county line, and south of the Tennessee-Kentucky state line. The Clearfork Valley remained sparsely populated throughout much of the 19th century, due mainly to limited bottomlands along the river for farming, poor soil, and the general isolation of the area. The few who settled in the valley mostly practiced subsistence farming.
