Some of you might be asking yourself, at this very moment, is Tennessee a good place?
The answer is unequivocally yes… if you know where to locate the best counties to live in Tennessee.
Lucky for you, we’re here to help you identify the best counties to live in the Volunteer State based on the most recently available data from the Census. And this isn’t our first rodeo — we’ve been using Saturday Night Science to rank places for years.
The question becomes if you wanted to relocate to the best part of Tennessee, where would you go? To answer that, we looked at crime, cost of living, and demographic data for all 94 counties in the state.
Williamson County is the county to be when it comes to living the good life in Tennessee. And you should avoid Scott County if you can — at least according to the data.
$135,594 median income · 2.4% unemployment
$95,839 median income · 3.2% unemployment
$90,301 median income · 3.6% unemployment
$76,130 median income · 2.4% unemployment
$74,222 median income · 3.5% unemployment
$75,003 median income · 3.4% unemployment
$88,456 median income · 4.8% unemployment
$63,494 median income · 2.8% unemployment
$85,470 median income · 3.6% unemployment
$84,185 median income · 2.8% unemployment
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Tennessee’s statewide median.
Tennessee statewide median: $69,595
Tennessee statewide median: $333,651
Tennessee statewide median: 4.7%
On the map
Where Tennessee’s best counties are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine which Tennessee county is the best?
To give you the best county in Tennessee, we have to look at a handful of metrics that signal the quality of a place. To do that, we made assumptions about what’s in a “best county” and what isn’t. For reference, we are trying to make the kind of argument you’d make at a bar using facts, Saturday Night Science.
With that in mind, we went to two of the best data sources on the internet. Namely, the American Community Survey data and FBI Crime data for the most recent period.
We paid particular attention to:
- Violent Crime Rates
- Property Crime Rates
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Unemployment Rates
- Adult Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty Rates
We then ranked each county in Tennessee across each of the criteria from one to 94, with one being the best.
Taking the average rank across all criteria, we created a quality of life score with the county posting the lowest overall score being the “Best County To Live In Tennessee.”
The result is some of the safest, quietest, and best counties to raise a family in the Volunteer State.
We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the best counties to live in Tennessee.
Read on to see why Williamson County is the best county, while Scott County is probably in contention for being the worst county in Tennessee.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Best Counties In Tennessee
Click any column to sort. Search by county name.
| Rank | County | Population | Median Income | Median Home Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Williamson County | 260,351 | $135,594 | $925,695 |
| 2 | Wilson County | 158,805 | $95,839 | $501,381 |
| 3 | Sumner County | 204,424 | $90,301 | $443,791 |
| 4 | Maury County | 107,791 | $76,130 | $403,962 |
| 5 | Knox County | 494,148 | $74,222 | $376,196 |
| 6 | Dickson County | 55,983 | $75,003 | $360,953 |
| 7 | Fayette County | 43,267 | $88,456 | $373,539 |
| 8 | Franklin County | 43,990 | $63,494 | $316,148 |
| 9 | Rutherford County | 360,646 | $85,470 | $416,885 |
| 10 | Loudon County | 58,580 | $84,185 | $444,727 |
| 11 | Blount County | 139,333 | $77,365 | $390,058 |
| 12 | Trousdale County | 11,957 | $72,747 | $347,634 |
| 13 | Cheatham County | 41,829 | $89,852 | $393,931 |
| 14 | Robertson County | 75,539 | $83,047 | $371,615 |
| 15 | Smith County | 20,389 | $66,293 | $306,362 |
| 16 | Anderson County | 79,153 | $66,183 | $313,015 |
| 17 | Montgomery County | 234,153 | $75,613 | $319,063 |
| 18 | Hamilton County | 376,192 | $76,183 | $353,406 |
| 19 | Marshall County | 36,049 | $71,049 | $330,153 |
| 20 | Roane County | 55,208 | $71,885 | $294,451 |
| 21 | Davidson County | 715,388 | $77,853 | $432,820 |
| 22 | Jefferson County | 56,864 | $66,114 | $332,341 |
| 23 | Tipton County | 61,553 | $74,127 | $273,680 |
| 24 | Union County | 20,431 | $62,727 | $289,193 |
| 25 | Hickman County | 25,436 | $68,247 | $195,354 |
| 26 | Giles County | 30,620 | $62,307 | $256,692 |
| 27 | Cumberland County | 63,553 | $60,375 | $304,476 |
| 28 | Sevier County | 99,652 | $62,581 | $405,646 |
| 29 | Washington County | 136,261 | $62,809 | $304,282 |
| 30 | Cannon County | 14,818 | $59,443 | $324,571 |
| 31 | Lincoln County | 35,946 | $64,667 | $264,661 |
| 31 | Bradley County | 111,065 | $66,552 | $316,294 |
| 33 | Crockett County | 13,944 | $62,165 | $190,969 |
| 34 | McMinn County | 54,884 | $61,470 | $256,616 |
| 35 | Bedford County | 52,237 | $67,225 | $331,981 |
| 36 | Coffee County | 59,710 | $61,505 | $311,376 |
| 37 | Stewart County | 14,027 | $63,114 | $240,462 |
| 38 | Putnam County | 82,558 | $58,912 | $314,380 |
| 39 | Houston County | 8,353 | $59,576 | $225,090 |
| 40 | Gibson County | 50,869 | $62,755 | $177,802 |
| 41 | Sullivan County | 160,624 | $58,807 | $258,381 |
| 42 | Unicoi County | 17,756 | $52,218 | $244,866 |
| 43 | Chester County | 17,611 | $59,341 | $165,037 |
| 44 | Overton County | 23,065 | $48,959 | $260,911 |
| 45 | Greene County | 71,628 | $56,194 | $251,736 |
| 46 | Meigs County | 13,343 | $61,375 | $296,450 |
| 47 | Dyer County | 36,508 | $58,154 | $171,209 |
| 48 | Macon County | 26,240 | $59,177 | $265,841 |
| 49 | Grainger County | 24,266 | $50,538 | $279,053 |
| 50 | Monroe County | 47,695 | $56,895 | $283,485 |
| 51 | Carroll County | 28,641 | $51,787 | $180,314 |
| 52 | Lewis County | 12,992 | $56,285 | $253,214 |
| 53 | Morgan County | 21,361 | $65,954 | $213,662 |
| 54 | Madison County | 99,295 | $60,042 | $230,027 |
| 55 | Marion County | 29,250 | $61,824 | $258,199 |
| 56 | Humphreys County | 19,214 | $60,616 | $251,841 |
| 57 | Polk County | 17,898 | $62,522 | $250,709 |
| 58 | Hawkins County | 57,964 | $56,936 | $246,877 |
| 59 | Van Buren County | 6,437 | $54,931 | $233,203 |
| 60 | DeKalb County | 20,959 | $53,153 | $274,066 |
| 61 | Weakley County | 33,016 | $51,880 | $188,642 |
| 62 | Hamblen County | 65,669 | $55,454 | $272,389 |
| 63 | White County | 28,160 | $52,188 | $279,209 |
| 64 | Warren County | 42,166 | $55,487 | $256,687 |
| 65 | Shelby County | 919,173 | $63,767 | $218,752 |
| 66 | Obion County | 30,453 | $54,613 | $162,497 |
| 67 | Benton County | 16,006 | $51,746 | $186,163 |
| 68 | McNairy County | 25,970 | $53,473 | $168,779 |
| 69 | Lawrence County | 45,385 | $54,706 | $247,471 |
| 70 | Henderson County | 27,980 | $55,136 | $211,985 |
| 71 | Claiborne County | 32,466 | $49,379 | $224,434 |
| 72 | Henry County | 32,412 | $50,613 | $219,605 |
| 73 | Rhea County | 33,992 | $55,033 | $261,404 |
| 74 | Campbell County | 39,761 | $51,557 | $240,234 |
| 75 | Bledsoe County | 15,032 | $54,720 | $251,803 |
| 76 | Pickett County | 5,079 | $49,030 | $248,096 |
| 77 | Johnson County | 18,196 | $53,129 | $248,688 |
| 78 | Carter County | 56,712 | $50,135 | $236,346 |
| 79 | Wayne County | 16,168 | $52,294 | $179,072 |
| 80 | Sequatchie County | 16,809 | $58,750 | $284,706 |
| 81 | Cocke County | 36,813 | $48,016 | $244,570 |
| 81 | Perry County | 8,697 | $55,972 | $170,546 |
| 83 | Fentress County | 19,309 | $51,149 | $249,389 |
| 84 | Jackson County | 12,029 | $47,951 | $229,198 |
| 85 | Clay County | 7,670 | $39,972 | $215,088 |
| 86 | Hardeman County | 25,433 | $46,069 | $156,488 |
| 87 | Hardin County | 27,249 | $49,956 | $208,542 |
| 88 | Lauderdale County | 24,784 | $49,879 | $133,109 |
| 89 | Haywood County | 17,475 | $50,472 | $170,827 |
| 90 | Decatur County | 11,579 | $45,375 | $177,069 |
| 91 | Grundy County | 13,819 | $47,593 | $205,919 |
| 92 | Hancock County | 6,852 | $34,960 | $178,522 |
| 93 | Lake County | 6,579 | $28,814 | $112,424 |
| 94 | Scott County | 22,113 | $44,711 | $179,780 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS + FBI crime data via Saturday Night Science. All 94 Tennessee counties.
Summary
Summary: The Best Counties In Tennessee To Call Home For 2026
Living in Tennessee can vary from one part of the state to the next — who woulda thought?
The best counties in Tennessee are Williamson County, Wilson County, Sumner County, Maury County, Knox County, Dickson County, Fayette County, Franklin County, Rutherford County, and Loudon County.
But now you know the outstanding parts and the parts to avoid, and that’s why you came here to learn at the end of the day.
You are welcome.
