The unfortunate fact of the matter is that some places in the Volunteer State have a larger percent of their population that never graduated from high school.
While the emphasis on going to college might be overblown, the fact is that not graduating from high school puts you at a significant disadvantage on average. Educational attainment might not be the best way to measure one person’s intelligence, but it does shine a light on the state.
We will use Saturday Night Science to determine what places in Tennessee have the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree.
A recent study we published found that Tennessee is the 41st smartest state in the United States, with an average IQ of 97.
But that doesn’t mean that a few cities in Tennessee are a bit slower than others due to a lack of basic education.
#1 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Campbell County, Tennessee
LaFollette is a city in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 7,456 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2014 of 7,131. It is the principal city of the LaFollette, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Campbell County, and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area. While the city’s official spelling is one word -after its founders, Harvey Marion LaFollette and his younger brother Grant LaFollette-several federal agencies spell the city’s name with two words.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Bedford County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 dumbest in Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Cocke County, Tennessee
Newport is a city in and the county seat of Cocke County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,945 at the 2010 census, down from 7,242 at the 2000 census. The estimated population in 2014 was 6,880. It is located along the Pigeon River.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Sevier County, Tennessee
Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 5,875.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Hardin County, Tennessee
Savannah is a city in and the county seat of Hardin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,917 at the 2000 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Warren County, Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Roane County, Tennessee
Rockwood is a city in Roane County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 5,562 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 dumbest in Tennessee
Located in
Jefferson County, Tennessee
Morristown is a city in and the county seat of Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 29,137 at the 2010 United States Census. It is the principal city of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Grainger, Hamblen, and Jefferson counties. The Morristown metropolitan area is also a part of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area. Morristown is primarily located in Hamblen County while a small portion of the city is located in Jefferson County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 dumbest in Tennessee
Data | 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 dumbest cities are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the dumbest cities in the Volunteer State
We realize that formal education is only part of it when it comes to being intelligent, but on the other hand, knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.
So, we used Saturday Night Science to narrow down our criteria to focus on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.
In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in Tennessee:
- % of the city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
- % of city’s population with a college degree (Age 25+)
We got the data from the U.S. Census 2020-2024 American Community Survey.
Then, our algorithm generates a rank for each place in these categories. After crunching all the numbers, a ranking of the cities in Tennessee from dumbest to brightest.
For this ranking, we used every Tennessee city with at least 5,000 residents. We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the dumbest cities in Tennessee.
The full plate
Dumbest Cities In Tennessee For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | % Adult High School Dropout | % Highly Educated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Follette | 7,273 | 20.0% | 7.0% |
| 2 | Shelbyville | 24,661 | 23.0% | 12.0% |
| 3 | Lafayette | 5,727 | 21.0% | 12.0% |
| 4 | Newport | 6,881 | 17.0% | 9.0% |
| 5 | Pigeon Forge | 6,375 | 25.0% | 14.0% |
| 6 | Savannah | 7,412 | 16.0% | 13.0% |
| 7 | McMinnville | 13,844 | 15.0% | 12.0% |
| 8 | Rockwood | 5,566 | 14.0% | 9.0% |
| 9 | Morristown | 31,527 | 15.0% | 14.0% |
| 10 | Smithville | 5,288 | 28.0% | 17.0% |
| 11 | Brownsville | 9,622 | 16.0% | 15.0% |
| 12 | Bolivar | 5,144 | 16.0% | 15.0% |
| 13 | Dunlap | 5,678 | 20.0% | 17.0% |
| 14 | Ripley | 7,658 | 16.0% | 16.0% |
| 15 | Covington | 8,587 | 13.0% | 13.0% |
| 16 | Madisonville | 5,241 | 14.0% | 16.0% |
| 17 | Harriman | 6,090 | 13.0% | 14.0% |
| 18 | Portland | 13,449 | 13.0% | 14.0% |
| 19 | Milan | 8,244 | 13.0% | 15.0% |
| 20 | Springfield | 19,255 | 14.0% | 17.0% |
| 21 | Erwin | 5,988 | 14.0% | 18.0% |
| 22 | Dayton | 7,625 | 20.0% | 23.0% |
| 23 | Humboldt | 7,787 | 13.0% | 17.0% |
| 24 | Lawrenceburg | 11,844 | 12.0% | 15.0% |
| 25 | Lexington | 7,962 | 12.0% | 16.0% |
| 26 | Sweetwater | 6,532 | 13.0% | 19.0% |
| 27 | Millersville | 5,836 | 13.0% | 20.0% |
| 28 | Henderson | 6,411 | 14.0% | 22.0% |
| 29 | Sevierville | 18,397 | 14.0% | 24.0% |
| 30 | East Ridge | 22,070 | 14.0% | 24.0% |
| 31 | Lewisburg | 12,861 | 11.0% | 17.0% |
| 32 | Pulaski | 8,285 | 12.0% | 20.0% |
| 33 | Millington | 11,289 | 11.0% | 19.0% |
| 34 | Athens | 14,471 | 12.0% | 23.0% |
| 35 | Paris | 10,338 | 12.0% | 21.0% |
| 36 | Mount Carmel | 5,472 | 8.0% | 14.0% |
| 37 | McKenzie | 5,631 | 12.0% | 21.0% |
| 38 | Fayetteville | 7,057 | 11.0% | 20.0% |
| 39 | Manchester | 12,944 | 12.0% | 23.0% |
| 40 | Dickson | 16,424 | 10.0% | 18.0% |
| 41 | Memphis | 618,980 | 14.0% | 28.0% |
| 42 | La Vergne | 40,243 | 12.0% | 24.0% |
| 43 | Crossville | 12,428 | 9.0% | 17.0% |
| 44 | Winchester | 9,799 | 12.0% | 26.0% |
| 45 | Dyersburg | 15,979 | 11.0% | 23.0% |
| 46 | Elizabethton | 14,374 | 11.0% | 26.0% |
| 47 | Cleveland | 48,829 | 12.0% | 31.0% |
| 48 | Church Hill | 7,139 | 7.0% | 18.0% |
| 49 | Soddy-Daisy | 13,231 | 10.0% | 24.0% |
| 50 | Clinton | 10,239 | 7.0% | 19.0% |
| 51 | Munford | 6,588 | 8.0% | 21.0% |
| 52 | Smyrna | 56,692 | 10.0% | 28.0% |
| 53 | Columbia | 45,441 | 9.0% | 25.0% |
| 54 | Kingston | 6,224 | 8.0% | 24.0% |
| 55 | Greeneville | 15,646 | 10.0% | 27.0% |
| 56 | Lebanon | 44,788 | 10.0% | 31.0% |
| 57 | Kingsport | 56,262 | 10.0% | 31.0% |
| 58 | Jackson | 68,435 | 10.0% | 28.0% |
| 59 | Cookeville | 36,088 | 11.0% | 35.0% |
| 60 | Tullahoma | 21,103 | 8.0% | 27.0% |
| 61 | White House | 14,631 | 7.0% | 26.0% |
| 62 | Bristol | 27,636 | 9.0% | 30.0% |
| 63 | Greenbrier | 6,971 | 4.0% | 22.0% |
| 64 | Knoxville | 195,185 | 10.0% | 34.0% |
| 65 | Alcoa | 12,222 | 10.0% | 34.0% |
| 66 | Chattanooga | 185,783 | 10.0% | 36.0% |
| 67 | Jonesborough | 6,232 | 7.0% | 27.0% |
| 68 | Goodlettsville | 17,597 | 9.0% | 32.0% |
| 69 | Gallatin | 48,532 | 9.0% | 34.0% |
| 70 | Pleasant View | 5,276 | 9.0% | 34.0% |
| 71 | Clarksville | 176,456 | 6.0% | 30.0% |
| 72 | Martin | 10,915 | 7.0% | 31.0% |
| 73 | Oak Ridge | 32,693 | 7.0% | 40.0% |
| 74 | Oakland | 9,979 | 4.0% | 33.0% |
| 75 | Maryville | 32,392 | 6.0% | 39.0% |
| 76 | Fairview | 10,009 | 5.0% | 36.0% |
| 77 | Atoka | 10,385 | 5.0% | 35.0% |
| 78 | Bartlett | 56,876 | 5.0% | 36.0% |
| 79 | Collegedale | 11,330 | 7.0% | 51.0% |
| 80 | Red Bank | 12,010 | 6.0% | 45.0% |
| 81 | Hendersonville | 63,091 | 5.0% | 44.0% |
| 82 | Murfreesboro | 161,445 | 5.0% | 44.0% |
| 83 | Medina | 5,407 | 2.0% | 39.0% |
| 84 | Thompson’s Station | 8,294 | 4.0% | 61.0% |
| 85 | Arlington | 15,205 | 3.0% | 51.0% |
| 86 | Mount Juliet | 42,073 | 3.0% | 50.0% |
| 87 | Collierville | 51,515 | 4.0% | 62.0% |
| 88 | Lakeland | 14,192 | 3.0% | 53.0% |
| 89 | Nolensville | 15,074 | 3.0% | 68.0% |
| 90 | Spring Hill | 55,765 | 2.0% | 51.0% |
| 91 | Franklin | 87,133 | 3.0% | 65.0% |
| 92 | Farragut | 24,634 | 2.0% | 65.0% |
| 93 | Germantown | 40,673 | 2.0% | 72.0% |
| 94 | Signal Mountain | 8,860 | 1.0% | 73.0% |
| 95 | Brentwood | 45,556 | 1.0% | 74.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 95 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep
If you’re measuring the locations in Tennessee where there are a high number of dropouts and adults who never received a formal education, this is an accurate ranking.
The dumbest cities in Tennessee are La Follette, Shelbyville, Lafayette, Newport, Pigeon Forge, Savannah, McMinnville, Rockwood, Morristown, and Smithville. Not sold on Tennessee? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
