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Honky-tonk and cowboy boots are not the only things that keep Tennessee kickinâ up their heels, the Volunteer State has some of the best places to live East of the Mighty Mississippi.
Heck, thereâs a reason Justin Timberlake bought a home in Franklin, Nicole Kidman took up residence in Nashville, and that Tennessee is always inviting you to âtake a walk in Memphis.â North, South, East, or West Tennessee, thereâs a Tennessee city for everyone. Dollywood in Pigeon Forge and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga are just a few of Tennesseeâs great cities where you can live, work, and play.
However, to make our top ten best places to live in Tennessee for 2019 list, our super star places really had to bring their A-game. The top ten best cities on our list average some of the highest household incomes and boasts some of the most expensive homes. These cities also have some of the most educated residents and safety is a priority.
Want to know what cities crushed the competition? Grab some Tennessee BBQ, crank some Elvis, find a sunny spot in Graceland and read on as we uncover where you should call home in Tennessee.
Here are the 10 best places to live in Tennessee for 2019:
- Germantown (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Brentwood (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Signal Mountain (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Collierville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Spring Hill (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Franklin (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Collegedale (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Nolensville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Bartlett (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Mount Juliet (Photos | Homes For Sale)
What does the best place to live in the birthplace of country music look like? Drum roll... The best place to live in Tennessee for 2019 is Germantown.
We are not at all surprised. Germantown is beautiful, quaint, safe, and bursting at the seams with great people.
The competition was fierce to say the least. To see Tennesseeâs other best of the best cities, take a look below. And if you don't find it there, head to the bottom.
If you're looking for something more national, check out the best states in America or the best places to live in America.
For more Tennessee reading, check out:
- These Are The 10 Best Counties To Live In Tennessee
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Tennessee
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Tennessee
The 10 Best Places To Live In Tennessee For 2019
/10
Population: 39,213
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Home Value: $296,300 (6th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.7% (8th best)
More on Germantown: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Who wouldn't want to live in a place where there's low crime and everyone is rich? That's the case with Germantown.
Things are looking peachy keen here. The unemployment rate is the 8th lowest in Tennessee and the median income comes in at $107,376.
This is the kind of place you brag to your friends on Facebook about.
/10
Population: 40,873
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 1)
Median Home Value: $555,800 (1st best)
Unemployment Rate: 2.8% (2nd best)
More on Brentwood: Real Estate | Data | Photos
It's obvious why Brentwood ranks 2nd in the state for best places to live: they have the 2nd lowest unemployment rate and the highest home values.
Plus, they're known for their quality education and relatively low crime, making Brentwood a great place to live.
/10
Population: 8,500
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 1)
Median Home Value: $325,900 (5th best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.3% (14th best)
More on Signal Mountain: Real Estate | Data | Photos
If you want to live in Tennessee, you can't go wrong if you decide to make the Signal Mountain area your home. However, everyone and their mother wants to live here.
Can you blame them? It's a beautiful place with really low crime, where a majority of residents are wealthy (a $98,665 median income will do that).
Plus, the residents are really involved with helping to make Signal Mountain as great as possible. You can't get it much better than in Signal Mountain.
/10
Population: 48,005
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Median Home Value: $278,600 (7th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.8% (10th best)
More on Collierville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Collierville isn't just the nicest place to live in Tennessee - it's also the one of the fastest growing places in the state. And with good reason.
It's got the 10th lowest unemployment rate, the 2nd highest adjusted income, and rates above most places in education.
When you're looking at science and data, Collierville definitely deserves a spot on the list for 2019.
/10
Population: 34,364
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 2)
Median Home Value: $225,800 (9th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.6% (6th best)
More on Spring Hill: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Spring Hill is another great city in Tennessee with a low unemployment rate and where residents earn high salaries.
Said one reviewer on City-Data.com: " We feel incredibly safe in Spring Hill. The houses and neighborhoods are beautiful, the people are friendly, and it's wonderful to have such good neighbors. People watch out for each other here, they teach their children to be respectful of others and things."
Enough said.
/10
Population: 70,625
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 1)
Median Home Value: $342,900 (2nd best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.2% (13th best)
More on Franklin: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Franklin comes in 6th in our best places to live in Tennessee analysis.
Ranking highly for its exceptionally low unemployment rate (13th overall) and crime rate (18th overall), Franklin is the exact kind of place you'd want to live with a family.
Several large companies call the surrounding area home which should keep Franklin in our lists for years to come.
/10
Population: 10,438
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 3)
Median Home Value: $194,400 (13th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.8% (10th best)
More on Collegedale: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Collegedale makes a case for being one of the best places to live in Tennessee mainly because of a low crime rate and a higher than average household income level.
And when school spending is higher than the national average and only 3.8% of folks are jobless, you can bet Collegedale residents are glad to live where they do.
/10
Population: 6,724
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 2)
Median Home Value: $341,400 (3rd best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.0% (4th best)
More on Nolensville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The crime is the 17th lowest in the state in Nolensville, and there were only 12 violent crimes in the entire city last year. We think it's even safer here than the numbers indicate.
The schools are some of the best in Tennessee, and residents live in very expensive homes. They also earn more than most every other city in the state. Residents in Nolensville earn $110,087 a year.
/10
Population: 58,318
Rank Last Year: 8 (Down 1)
Median Home Value: $171,300 (22nd best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.5% (17th best)
More on Bartlett: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Bartlett ranks 9th on our list of best places to live in Tennessee thanks to its low unemployment and high adjusted median income.
Additionally, its crime rate ranks in the lowest 10% of all places in Tennessee that we examined.
People have been flocking to Bartlett over the past years. Goes to show that everyone wants in on this great community.
/10
Population: 29,853
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 2)
Median Home Value: $223,800 (10th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.9% (12th best)
More on Mount Juliet: Real Estate | Data | Photos
When you're looking at the best places you could live in Tennessee, Mount Juliet came in 10th. Let's see why.
It has a low unemployment rate and high incomes.
Plus, Mount Juliet has an impressive history for a place of just over 29,853 people. The median home costs a cool $223,800 and households make $77,965 which is good for 13th in Tennessee.
Mapping The Best And Worst Places To Live in Tennessee
The Pressing Question: Size
Before we even started to collect data, we had to answer a tough question: Is it fair to pit cities with populations over 100,000 against places with a population of 18?
We firmly decided no, that just isn't fair.
So to create our ranking, we broke places to live into three tiers:
- Cities -- Populations over 5,000
- Towns -- Populations between 1,000 and 5,000
- Small Towns -- Populations below 1,000
This left us with 91 cities, 175 towns, and 136 small towns.
We then decided, no matter how much anyone loves their town, the best places have more of everything and therefore you need to have over 5,000 people to truly be 'the best'.
Now we also realize that city living might not be your cup of tea, so we ran the following analysis on towns and then again for small towns.
You can see those two top tens at the bottom of the post.
How We Calculated The Best Cities To Live In Tennessee
Now that we had our set of cities, it was time to rank them.
We ranked each place in Tennessee across a number of criteria from one to 91, with one being the best.
We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the city posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title "Best Place To Live In Tennessee".
The criteria we looked at were:
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Population Density (Higher better)
- Unemployment Rate
- Commute Time
- Crime
- Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty rates
Sources of criteria include the New Census Data and FBI Crime Data.
After the dust settled, what was the best place to live in Tennessee? That would be Germantown.
If your city or town isn't among the top 10, jump down to the bottom of the post to see a detailed chart of the best places in Tennessee.
Otherwise, buckle up for a ride down good living lane with Germantown at the end of the cul-de-sac.
Wrapping Up The Best Places When It Comes To Living In Tennessee
If you're looking at areas in Tennessee with the best economic situations, where there's lower than average crime, and a lot to do, this is an accurate list.
Germantown made a strong showing to take in the overall number one spot for the best place to live in Tennessee for 2019.
Best Towns To Live In Tennessee
- Lookout Mountain (Pop. 1,930)
- Belle Meade (Pop. 2,704)
- Oak Hill (Pop. 4,686)
- Sewanee (Pop. 2,503)
- Forest Hills (Pop. 4,999)
- Gray (Pop. 1,806)
- Medina (Pop. 4,025)
- Shackle Island (Pop. 3,290)
- Walden (Pop. 1,907)
- Lakesite (Pop. 1,911)
Best Small Towns To Live In Tennessee
- Ridgeside (Pop. 671)
- Rockvale (Pop. 822)
- Bell Buckle (Pop. 401)
- Walterhill (Pop. 355)
- Rockford (Pop. 788)
- Berry Hill (Pop. 793)
- Baneberry (Pop. 487)
- Garland (Pop. 343)
- Oak Grove CDP (Sumner (Pop. 215)
- Gibson (Pop. 316)
If you're curious enough, here are the worst places to live in Tennessee according to the data:
- La Follette (Pop. 7,131)
- Savannah (Pop. 7,043)
- Ripley (Pop. 8,249)
For more Tennessee reading, check out:
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Tennessee
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Tennessee
- 10 Safest Places In Tennessee
- 10 Worst Places To Live In Tennessee
Where Are The Best Places To Live In Tennessee?
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germantown | 39,213 |
| 2 | Brentwood | 40,873 |
| 3 | Signal Mountain | 8,500 |
| 4 | Collierville | 48,005 |
| 5 | Spring Hill | 34,364 |
| 6 | Franklin | 70,625 |
| 7 | Collegedale | 10,438 |
| 8 | Nolensville | 6,724 |
| 9 | Bartlett | 58,318 |
| 10 | Mount Juliet | 29,853 |
