QoL Rank
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Tennessee

Tennessee has a quality of life score of 39/100 (D, below average) and ranks #37 of 51 states. Its strongest category is cost of living (56) and its weakest is quality of life (25). Its top-rated larger counties are Williamson County, Wilson County, Blount County.

  • Safety: 27
  • Cost of living: 56
  • Education: 49
  • Quality of life: 25

Key figures: violent crime 547.0 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,189 a month; median home value $286,700; median household income $67,651; life expectancy 73.5 years.

Counties in Tennessee, best first

  1. Williamson County 71
  2. Wilson County 63
  3. Blount County 62
  4. Sumner County 62
  5. Washington County 59
  6. Loudon County 58
  7. Chester County 58
  8. Rutherford County 55
  9. Unicoi County 54
  10. Crockett County 53
  11. Sullivan County 53
  12. Hamblen County 52
  13. Weakley County 52
  14. Anderson County 52
  15. Bradley County 52
  16. Dickson County 52
  17. Montgomery County 51
  18. Hawkins County 50
  19. Putnam County 50
  20. Smith County 50
  21. Knox County 50
  22. Jefferson County 50
  23. Lawrence County 50
  24. Hamilton County 49
  25. Perry County 49
  26. Cheatham County 49
  27. Cumberland County 49
  28. Henry County 49
  29. Van Buren County 48
  30. Stewart County 48
  31. Lincoln County 48
  32. Rhea County 48
  33. Carter County 48
  34. Roane County 48
  35. Dyer County 48
  36. Moore County 48
  37. Marshall County 47
  38. Trousdale County 47
  39. Bledsoe County 47
  40. Henderson County 47
  41. Morgan County 47
  42. Johnson County 47
  43. Tipton County 47
  44. Wayne County 47
  45. Decatur County 47
  46. McMinn County 47
  47. White County 46
  48. Hickman County 46
  49. Sevier County 46
  50. Maury County 46
  51. Scott County 45
  52. Humphreys County 45
  53. Obion County 45
  54. Polk County 45
  55. Gibson County 45
  56. Greene County 45
  57. Lewis County 45
  58. Overton County 45
  59. McNairy County 44
  60. Fentress County 44
  61. Cannon County 43
  62. Franklin County 43
  63. Carroll County 43
  64. Marion County 43
  65. Macon County 42
  66. Robertson County 42
  67. Benton County 41
  68. Claiborne County 41
  69. Coffee County 41
  70. Warren County 41
  71. Jackson County 40
  72. Clay County 40
  73. Meigs County 39
  74. Giles County 39
  75. Union County 39
  76. Bedford County 38
  77. Davidson County 38
  78. Fayette County 38
  79. Houston County 37
  80. Monroe County 37
  81. Grainger County 37
  82. Madison County 36
  83. Grundy County 36
  84. Hardin County 36
  85. Pickett County 36
  86. Campbell County 36
  87. DeKalb County 35
  88. Cocke County 35
  89. Sequatchie County 32
  90. Lauderdale County 30
  91. Haywood County 30
  92. Shelby County 29
  93. Lake County 28
  94. Hancock County 28
  95. Hardeman County 23

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources