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If you've hung up your office attire for the last time and are looking for a great place to retire in the Volunteer State, then you're in the right place. We've done the research to determine where the hottest spots for retirement are in Tennesee.
Whatever your priorities are for retirement, we're sure Tennessee has what you need. If you're a diehard country music fan, you couldn't retire in a better place than Tennessee. Whether you're just visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame or Elvis's Graceland, or you'd rather catch a live show at the Grand Ole Opry, you'll never run short of places to go to get your country music fix. And if you've always been a whiskey enthusiast but want to become a real connoisseur, then you'll have to compare the hooch from Tennessee's 30-some-odd distilleries. Sounds like a good retirement hobby to me! Maybe, for you, retirement is a time to just chill out in nature. In that case, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a place you'll certainly want to frequent.
The best places to retire in Tennessee are fairly well spread out around the state, with a bit of a higher concentration in the Nashville Basin. If being close to a big city is an important factor in deciding where to retire, we'd suggest Brentwood as the best of the Nashville suburbs, while Germantown is the best place to retire near Memphis. If you want to retire in the place with the best scenery and easiest access to outdoor activities, then Greenville is definitely for you.
Crank up the Dolly Parton, grab a plate of southern comfort food, and turn off that alarm clock forever, because we're going to the best places to retire in Tennessee.
The 10 Best Places To Retire In Tennessee For 2022
Why did Greeneville take the top spot? And where are Memphis and Knoxville?
Whether retirement is right around the corner or still a far-off daydream, keep these Tennessee cities in mind when you're making a plan. Many of the cities on this list overlap with the best family cities in Tennessee, so they're all around good spots for every generation.
If you're wondering how we came up with this list, wonder no longer. We only looked at cities in Tennessee with a population of at least 10,000 people, leaving us with 48 cities to score. We looked at the data from the Census, the FBI's Crime Report, National Weather Service, and OpenFlights to discover which of these 48 cities were the best in terms of safety, affordability, weather, and access to things to do. So which city was the most impressive by these metrics? According to the data, Greeneville is the best place to retire in Tennessee for 2022.
Still curious as to how each of the 48 Tennessee cities we examined ranked for retirees? Check out the complete list below.
For more Tennessee state reading:
- Best Places To Live In Tennessee
- Cheapest Places To Live In Tennessee
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Tennessee
- Best Places To Retire In America
The 10 Best Places To Retire In Tennessee For 2022
/10
Population: 14,938
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Rent: $586
Distance to Closest Airport: 124 miles
More on Greeneville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 19,982
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 6)
Median Rent: $675
Distance to Closest Airport: 57 miles
More on Tullahoma: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 10,925
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 1)
Median Rent: $621
Distance to Closest Airport: 70 miles
More on Lawrenceburg: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 42,700
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 1)
Median Rent: $2,033
Distance to Closest Airport: 10 miles
More on Brentwood: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 10,021
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 4)
Median Rent: $680
Distance to Closest Airport: 91 miles
More on Paris: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 10,006
Rank Last Year: -
Median Rent: $732
Distance to Closest Airport: 142 miles
More on Clinton: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 39,196
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 4)
Median Rent: $1,358
Distance to Closest Airport: 11 miles
More on Germantown: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 15,500
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 2)
Median Rent: $742
Distance to Closest Airport: 10 miles
More on Dickson: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 40,262
Rank Last Year: 7 (Down 2)
Median Rent: $1,026
Distance to Closest Airport: 21 miles
More on Gallatin: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 57,888
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Median Rent: $1,169
Distance to Closest Airport: 13 miles
More on Hendersonville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Methodology: How We Determined The Best Places To Retire In the Volunteer State for 2022
To create our list of the best places in Tennessee to retire, we first used Census data to find all places in the Volunteer State -- 427 cities and towns.
We then narrowed it down to places with at least 10,000 people that weren't townships. This left us with 48 places from across the state.
For these 48, we looked at the following criteria taken from the Census, the FBI's Crime Report, National Weather Service, and OpenFlights:
- Low cost of living as measured by rent
- Low crime
- Things to do (Museums, Colleges, and Libraries in town)
- Nice weather
- Distance to the closest international airport
- Other retirees (High median age)
We then ranked each of these places for each criteria from one to 48, with the lowest number being the best.
Finally, we took the average rank across these criteria. The place, in this case Greeneville, with the lowest average rank was crowned the best of the best, a place for you to start your second careers. You can download the data here.
Summary: Maybe You're Not Ready To Retire In Tennessee Yet...
So there you have it, the best place to retire in Tennessee goes to Greeneville.
If you're not ready to hang up your office apparel yet, then these places might be up your alley:
- Knoxville
- Chattanooga
- Cleveland
For more Tennessee reading, check out:
Where Are The Best Places To Retire In Tennessee?
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Greeneville | 14,938 |
2 | Tullahoma | 19,982 |
3 | Lawrenceburg | 10,925 |
4 | Brentwood | 42,700 |
5 | Paris | 10,021 |
6 | Clinton | 10,006 |
7 | Germantown | 39,196 |
8 | Dickson | 15,500 |
9 | Gallatin | 40,262 |
10 | Hendersonville | 57,888 |