Are you looking for love in Tennessee?
Or are you just hoping to hook up with a hot Tennessean?
Either way, we’ve got you covered here.
If you live in Tennessee, there’s a pretty good chance there are a lot of singles in your area. The Volunteer State has plenty of people over 18 who aren’t married or in a serious relationship.
That’s great news for people who are single and looking to mingle.
So, where are the best cities for singles in Tennessee? We used Saturday Night Science to find out.
33.5 median age · 16.0% married households
Located in
Knox County, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Knox County. The city had an estimated population of 186,239 in 2016 and a population of 178,874 as of the 2010 census, making it the state’s third largest city after Nashville and Memphis. Knoxville is the principal city of the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area, which, in 2016, was 868,546, up 0.9 percent, or 7,377 people, from to 2015. The KMSA is, in turn, the central component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area, which, in 2013, had a population of 1,096,961.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
31.0 median age · 11.0% married households
Located in
Montgomery County, Tennessee
The city of Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 132,929 at the 2010 census, and an estimated population of 150,287 in 2016.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
29.8 median age · 18.0% married households
Located in
Putnam County, Tennessee
Cookeville is a city in Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. Its population at the 2010 census was 30,435. It is the county seat and largest city of Putnam County and home to Tennessee Technological University. It is recognized as one of the country’s micropolitan areas, smaller cities which nevertheless function as significant economic hubs. Of the twenty micropolitan areas in Tennessee, Cookeville is the largest; the Cookeville micropolitan area’s 2010 Census population was 106,042.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
36.4 median age · 12.0% married households
Located in
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Collegedale is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 8,282 at the 2010 census and 10,729 in a 2014 estimate. Collegedale is a suburb of Chattanooga and is part of the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Collegedale is home to Southern Adventist University. The median household income is among one of the highest in Hamilton County. It has been ranked as one of the best and safest places to live in Tennessee.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
31.6 median age · 16.0% married households
Located in
Rutherford County, Tennessee
Murfreesboro is a city in, and the county seat of, Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 108,755 according to the 2010 census, up from 68,816 residents certified in 2000. In 2016, census estimates showed a population of 131,947. The city is the center of population of Tennessee, located 34 miles southeast of downtown Nashville in the Nashville metropolitan area of Middle Tennessee. It is Tennessee’s fastest growing major city and one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Murfreesboro is also home to Middle Tennessee State University, the second largest undergraduate university in the state of Tennessee, with 22,729 total students as of fall 2014.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
24.5 median age · 18.0% married households
Located in
Weakley County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34.2 median age · 15.0% married households
Located in
Shelby County, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
33.6 median age · 15.0% married households
Located in
Rutherford County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
36.3 median age · 16.0% married households
Located in
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Chattanooga is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with a population of 176,588 in 2015. The fourth-largest Tennessee city, it is the seat of Hamilton County. Located in southeastern Tennessee in East Tennessee, on the Tennessee River, served by multiple railroads and Interstate highways, Chattanooga is a transit hub. Chattanooga lies 120 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, 120 miles southwest of Knoxville, Tennessee, 135 miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, 120 miles northeast of Huntsville, Alabama, and 148 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34.1 median age · 14.0% married households
Located in
Rutherford County, Tennessee
Smyrna is a town in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Smyrna’s population was 39,974 at the 2010 census and 43,063 in 2013. In 2007, U.S. News & World Report listed Smyrna as one of the best places in the United States to retire.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Tennessee’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Tennessee’s singles cluster
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine which city is best for singles in Tennessee anyways?
To give you the places in Tennessee which are best for singles to find one another, we used Saturday Night Science to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city and make some assumptions about what single people like.
So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the 2020-2024 American Community Survey Census data produced for the state of Tennessee, we looked at every single city in the state. We paid particular attention to:
- Population density
- % of population that’s male vs. female (closer to a 50-50 ratio is better)
- % of households with kids
- Median age
- Number of unmarried people in each city
We then gave each city a “Singles Score.”
The higher the score, the better the city is for singles to find one another. We also limited our results to cities with over 10,000 people. For Tennessee, that meant a total of 58 cities.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the best cities for singles in Tennessee.
Read on to see why Knoxville is the talk of the town while Lawrenceburg is probably a bit on the bland side.
The full plate
Best Cities For Singles In Tennessee
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Singles Score | Population | Median Age | % Married Households | % Households w/ Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knoxville | 12.50 | 195,185 | 33.5 | 16.0% | 21.4% |
| 2 | Clarksville | 12.60 | 176,456 | 31.0 | 11.0% | 35.0% |
| 3 | Cookeville | 13.80 | 36,088 | 29.8 | 18.0% | 24.5% |
| 4 | Collegedale | 15.10 | 11,330 | 36.4 | 12.0% | 14.1% |
| 5 | Murfreesboro | 15.90 | 161,445 | 31.6 | 16.0% | 33.1% |
| 6 | Martin | 16.20 | 10,915 | 24.5 | 18.0% | 21.6% |
| 7 | Memphis | 16.80 | 618,980 | 34.2 | 15.0% | 28.3% |
| 8 | La Vergne | 17.60 | 40,243 | 33.6 | 15.0% | 41.6% |
| 9 | Chattanooga | 18.40 | 185,783 | 36.3 | 16.0% | 23.7% |
| 10 | Smyrna | 19.20 | 56,692 | 34.1 | 14.0% | 38.7% |
| 11 | East Ridge | 19.40 | 22,070 | 37.6 | 20.0% | 24.7% |
| 12 | Cleveland | 20.20 | 48,829 | 36.4 | 17.0% | 26.4% |
| 13 | Franklin | 22.20 | 87,133 | 38.6 | 12.0% | 32.7% |
| 14 | Springfield | 22.70 | 19,255 | 34.5 | 16.0% | 34.8% |
| 15 | Shelbyville | 23.70 | 24,661 | 31.8 | 16.0% | 34.3% |
| 16 | Red Bank | 23.80 | 12,010 | 37.9 | 18.0% | 19.1% |
| 17 | Spring Hill | 25.00 | 55,765 | 36.1 | 12.0% | 41.0% |
| 18 | Sevierville | 25.10 | 18,397 | 39.6 | 16.0% | 24.5% |
| 19 | Gallatin | 27.50 | 48,532 | 36.6 | 20.0% | 28.4% |
| 20 | Columbia | 27.60 | 45,441 | 35.5 | 17.0% | 31.7% |
| 21 | McMinnville | 27.90 | 13,844 | 37.0 | 20.0% | 30.3% |
| 22 | Mount Juliet | 28.10 | 42,073 | 39.3 | 15.0% | 42.1% |
| 23 | Athens | 29.10 | 14,471 | 39.0 | 19.0% | 32.9% |
| 24 | Alcoa | 29.60 | 12,222 | 35.6 | 25.0% | 26.6% |
| 25 | Lewisburg | 29.70 | 12,861 | 35.7 | 24.0% | 32.7% |
| 26 | Morristown | 30.20 | 31,527 | 36.3 | 20.0% | 35.8% |
| 27 | Dickson | 30.70 | 16,424 | 33.8 | 22.0% | 36.4% |
| 28 | Oak Ridge | 31.00 | 32,693 | 39.3 | 16.0% | 29.1% |
| 29 | Brentwood | 31.30 | 45,556 | 44.9 | 16.0% | 39.9% |
| 30 | Maryville | 31.50 | 32,392 | 40.8 | 24.0% | 33.5% |
| 31 | Fairview | 31.60 | 10,009 | 32.7 | 21.0% | 40.0% |
| 32 | Manchester | 32.00 | 12,944 | 32.6 | 21.0% | 30.8% |
| 33 | Farragut | 32.10 | 24,634 | 45.6 | 20.0% | 32.0% |
| 34 | Hendersonville | 32.40 | 63,091 | 40.3 | 20.0% | 32.0% |
| 35 | Bartlett | 32.40 | 56,876 | 41.2 | 27.0% | 31.1% |
| 36 | Goodlettsville | 32.50 | 17,597 | 38.5 | 21.0% | 25.5% |
| 37 | Jackson | 32.80 | 68,435 | 35.5 | 22.0% | 32.1% |
| 38 | Lebanon | 32.90 | 44,788 | 35.0 | 20.0% | 31.5% |
| 39 | Elizabethton | 32.90 | 14,374 | 40.9 | 23.0% | 26.7% |
| 40 | Greeneville | 34.50 | 15,646 | 42.2 | 22.0% | 23.8% |
| 41 | Paris | 35.00 | 10,338 | 38.5 | 20.0% | 24.1% |
| 42 | Clinton | 35.00 | 10,239 | 43.3 | 30.0% | 26.9% |
| 43 | Bristol | 36.10 | 27,636 | 41.1 | 19.0% | 27.4% |
| 44 | Millington | 36.20 | 11,289 | 37.6 | 20.0% | 27.6% |
| 45 | White House | 36.60 | 14,631 | 34.8 | 23.0% | 39.2% |
| 46 | Nolensville | 36.70 | 15,074 | 37.3 | 17.0% | 53.6% |
| 47 | Crossville | 36.70 | 12,428 | 39.4 | 17.0% | 27.2% |
| 48 | Germantown | 36.90 | 40,673 | 44.3 | 26.0% | 34.5% |
| 49 | Collierville | 37.20 | 51,515 | 41.0 | 20.0% | 40.1% |
| 50 | Kingsport | 38.50 | 56,262 | 43.0 | 23.0% | 26.2% |
| 51 | Lakeland | 39.60 | 14,192 | 41.0 | 23.0% | 39.9% |
| 52 | Soddy-Daisy | 39.70 | 13,231 | 45.6 | 31.0% | 29.9% |
| 53 | Tullahoma | 39.80 | 21,103 | 38.3 | 25.0% | 32.3% |
| 54 | Dyersburg | 39.90 | 15,979 | 41.5 | 22.0% | 31.1% |
| 55 | Atoka | 40.70 | 10,385 | 39.1 | 29.0% | 40.6% |
| 56 | Portland | 40.80 | 13,449 | 34.8 | 26.0% | 41.0% |
| 57 | Arlington | 41.90 | 15,205 | 36.7 | 29.0% | 49.6% |
| 58 | Lawrenceburg | 43.20 | 11,844 | 41.3 | 25.0% | 28.3% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 58 cities with more than 10,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: The Best Cities For Singles In Tennessee For 2026
If you’re looking for a breakdown of cities in Tennessee ranked by criteria that most agree make a place a great spot for finding a single person (and potentially love), this is an accurate list.
The best cities for singles in Tennessee are Knoxville, Clarksville, Cookeville, Collegedale, Murfreesboro, Martin, Memphis, La Vergne, Chattanooga, and Smyrna.
