The 10 Best Small Towns In Tennessee For 2025

You’ve seen these lists before. Best places to live in Tennessee. Best sururbs in Tennessee. Best counties in Tennessee.

Etc., etc., etc.

But they all focus on major cities and towns in the Volunteer State, and no one pays attention to the little guy.

Well, that’s all about to change as we put together a list of the superb small towns in Tennessee based on numbers–not opinions or hearsay.

We’ll dive right into our methodology in the next section, but first, we thought you might want to know which places in Tennessee ranked the best based on Saturday Night Science.

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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

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The 15 Best Small Towns To Live In Tennessee For 2025

1. Belle Meade
2. Lookout Mountain
3. Oak Hill
4. Sewanee
5. Forest Hills
6. Fairmount
7. Berry Hill
8. Colonial Heights
9. Gray
10. Lakesite
11. Norris
12. Falling Water
13. Spurgeon
14. Walden
15. Tusculum

What’s the best small town in Tennessee? Belle Meade is the best small town in Tennessee based on the most recent Census data. If you live in one of these small towns like Belle Meade, chances are, you’re not surprised. After all, you know how great you have it.

But for the rest of you–keep reading, and we’ll get to just why these small towns made our list.

For more reading on the Volunteer State check out:

• Best Places To Live In Tennessee
• Cheapest Places To Live In Tennessee
• Most Dangerous Cities In Tennessee

The 15 Best Small Towns In Tennessee For 2025

1. Belle Meade

Source: Wikipedia User Colin1769 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 2,824
Median Income: $250,001 (1st Best)
Median Home Value: $2,000,001 (1st Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.8%

2. Lookout Mountain

Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 2,112
Median Income: $195,063 (4th Best)
Median Home Value: $761,600 (4th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.6%

3. Oak Hill

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 4,690
Median Income: $202,614 (3rd Best)
Median Home Value: $1,085,100 (3rd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 1.3%

4. Sewanee

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 3,000
Median Income: $128,295 (8th Best)
Median Home Value: $377,200 (16th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

5. Forest Hills

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 4,802
Median Income: $250,001 (1st Best)
Median Home Value: $1,142,200 (2nd Best)
Unemployment Rate: 1.0%

6. Fairmount

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,932
Median Income: $133,232 (6th Best)
Median Home Value: $482,700 (9th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

7. Berry Hill

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 1,944
Median Income: $76,709 (29th Best)
Median Home Value: $513,700 (8th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 1.4%

8. Colonial Heights

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,783
Median Income: $76,440 (31st Best)
Median Home Value: $193,200 (69th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.1%

9. Gray

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,606
Median Income: $66,585 (49th Best)
Median Home Value: $192,500 (70th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.0%

10. Lakesite

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,026
Median Income: $92,847 (19th Best)
Median Home Value: $299,300 (26th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.3%

11. Norris

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 1,472
Median Income: $73,448 (36th Best)
Median Home Value: $306,300 (21st Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.3%

12. Falling Water

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,090
Median Income: $113,160 (13th Best)
Median Home Value: $398,400 (13th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 1.4%

13. Spurgeon

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 3,749
Median Income: $66,091 (52nd Best)
Median Home Value: $197,500 (60th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 0.7%

14. Walden

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,762
Median Income: $135,000 (5th Best)
Median Home Value: $600,900 (5th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 5.4%

15. Tusculum

Source: Wikipedia User Bill Showalter from Greeneville Tennessee, USA | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 3,304
Median Income: $71,458 (40th Best)
Median Home Value: $247,800 (39th Best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%

Next 10 Cities

Methodology: How We Determined The Coolest Towns In Tennessee

We threw a lot of criteria at this report to get the best, most complete results of the best small towns in Tennessee possible.

Using the most recent data from the Census’s 2019-2023 American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Saturday Night Science, this is the criteria we used:

• Population Density (Higher is better)
• Lowest Unemployment Rates
• Housing costs (Higher is better. More demand.)
• Adjusted Median Income (Higher is better)
• Highly Educated Adults (Higher is better)
• Insurance Rates (Higher is better)
• Commute Times (Lower is better)

We looked at places with populations lower than 5,000 people and greater than 1,000, of which there were many – 179 to be exact.

We then ranked each place in each category with scores from 1 to 179, averaged them out, and the lowest scores went to our Best Small Towns in Tennessee. Top of that list — Belle Meade.

This is our tenth time ranking the best small places to live in Tennessee.

Summary: Science Can Tackle Any Issue, Even Small Ones

We said it once, and we’ll say it again — this list: it’s just science. We did the research, crunched the numbers, and it turns out these 15 small towns in Tennessee are the best in which to live.

And who can argue with that?

The best small towns in Tennessee are Belle Meade, Lookout Mountain, Oak Hill, Sewanee, Forest Hills, Fairmount, Berry Hill, Colonial Heights, Gray, and Lakesite.

If you’re curious, here are the worst small towns in Tennessee:

1. Altamont
2. Winfield
3. Sneedville

For more Tennessee reading, check out:

• Best Places To Raise A Family In Tennessee
• Safest Places In Tennessee
• Worst Places To Live In Tennessee

Best Small Towns In Tennessee