Before you decide to relocate to Tennessee, it’s important to research the exact cost of living around the state. And that’s what we’re going to help you do.
These are the places in Tennessee that cost a pretty penny — the most expensive cities in the state.
We used Saturday Night Science to compare the 2020-2024 American Community Survey on cost of living for the 100 places in Tennessee with more than 5,000 people.
After we saved up for months and could finally afford it, we landed on this list of the ten most expensive cities in Tennessee for 2026.
$182,088 median income · $1,393,273 median home · #1 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Williamson County, Tennessee
Brentwood is a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee; located in Williamson County, it is known for its rolling hills as well as being one of the wealthiest cities in America relative to average cost of living. The population was 37,060 as of the 2010 U.S. Census, and estimated at 40,982 in 2014.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$177,148 median income · $836,736 median home · #3 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Williamson County, Tennessee
Nolensville is a town in Williamson County, Tennessee. The population was 5,861 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$132,647 median income · $815,216 median home · #4 home prices in Tennessee
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$119,528 median income · $922,855 median home · #2 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Williamson County, Tennessee
Franklin is a city in, and the county seat of, Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. Located about 21 miles south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area. Since 1980, its population has increased more than fivefold and, based on its 2013 estimated population of 68,886, it is ranked as the seventh-largest city in Tennessee.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$141,008 median income · $623,275 median home · #6 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Signal Mountain is a town in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The town is a suburb of Chattanooga and is located on Walden Ridge, a land mass often mistakenly referred to as “Signal Mountain” itself. Signal Mountain is also used as a colloquial name for part of the Walden Ridge close to the town. The town population was 7,554 as of the 2010 census. The population for zip code 37377 was 15,310 as of the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$142,093 median income · $688,601 median home · #5 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Loudon County, Tennessee
Farragut is a town which straddles both Knox and Loudon counties in Tennessee and is a suburb of Knoxville. The town’s population was 20,676 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. The town is named in honor of American Civil War Admiral David Farragut, who was born just east of Farragut at Campbell’s Station in 1801.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$149,920 median income · $485,879 median home · #12 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Shelby County, Tennessee
Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$138,598 median income · $509,893 median home · #11 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Shelby County, Tennessee
Collierville is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. The town had a population of 43,965 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$112,013 median income · $523,264 median home · #9 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Williamson County, Tennessee
Spring Hill is a city in Maury and Williamson counties, Tennessee, located approximately 30 miles south of Nashville. Spring Hill’s population as of 2014 was 34,269.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$135,105 median income · $409,250 median home · #22 home prices in Tennessee
Located in
Shelby County, Tennessee
Arlington is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee. The population was 2,569 at the 2000 census and 11,517 at the 2010 census, for a gain of 348.3% during the decade. The 2010 US Census shows that Arlington is the 2nd fastest growing community in the State of Tennessee. It is one of seven municipalities in Shelby County.
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.
Tennessee statewide median: $333,651
Tennessee statewide median: $69,595
On the map
Mapping the most expensive places in Tennessee
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Volunteer State For 2026
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford a city in Tennessee are how much money you make and how much you have to spend to live there.
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing, it’s actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Overall Cost Of Living Index
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Tennessee to figure out which is the most expensive.
You are left with a “Cost of Living Index” by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index to rank all of the 100 places in Tennessee that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in Tennessee according to the data is Brentwood. We updated this article for 2026. This article is our eleventh time ranking the most expensive places to live in Tennessee. The median Tennessee home is 38 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Most Expensive Cities In Tennessee
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Cost Of Living | Population | Median Income | Average Home Price | Home/Income Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brentwood | 164 | 45,556 | $182,088 | $1,393,273 | 7.7x |
| 2 | Nolensville | 144 | 15,074 | $177,148 | $836,736 | 4.7x |
| 3 | Thompson’s Station | 136 | 8,294 | $132,647 | $815,216 | 6.1x |
| 4 | Franklin | 134 | 87,133 | $119,528 | $922,855 | 7.7x |
| 5 | Signal Mountain | 125 | 8,860 | $141,008 | $623,275 | 4.4x |
| 6 | Farragut | 123 | 24,634 | $142,093 | $688,601 | 4.8x |
| 7 | Germantown | 121 | 40,673 | $149,920 | $485,879 | 3.2x |
| 8 | Collierville | 118 | 51,515 | $138,598 | $509,893 | 3.7x |
| 9 | Spring Hill | 117 | 55,765 | $112,013 | $523,264 | 4.7x |
| 10 | Arlington | 115 | 15,205 | $135,105 | $409,250 | 3.0x |
| 11 | Mount Juliet | 114 | 42,073 | $107,068 | $562,745 | 5.3x |
| 12 | Lakeland | 113 | 14,192 | $116,250 | $445,695 | 3.8x |
| 13 | Hendersonville | 111 | 63,091 | $97,200 | $521,094 | 5.4x |
| 14 | Lebanon | 111 | 44,788 | $72,848 | $443,605 | 6.1x |
| 15 | Murfreesboro | 109 | 161,445 | $80,108 | $426,292 | 5.3x |
| 16 | Fairview | 109 | 10,009 | $91,131 | $560,109 | 6.1x |
| 17 | Goodlettsville | 107 | 17,597 | $70,758 | $389,925 | 5.5x |
| 18 | White House | 106 | 14,631 | $90,019 | $388,293 | 4.3x |
| 19 | Pleasant View | 106 | 5,276 | $109,213 | $416,777 | 3.8x |
| 20 | Gallatin | 105 | 48,532 | $77,518 | $435,264 | 5.6x |
| 21 | Smyrna | 104 | 56,692 | $81,926 | $403,723 | 4.9x |
| 22 | Collegedale | 103 | 11,330 | $70,246 | $418,364 | 6.0x |
| 23 | Atoka | 103 | 10,385 | $89,663 | $350,767 | 3.9x |
| 24 | Oakland | 103 | 9,979 | $97,798 | $353,491 | 3.6x |
| 25 | Greenbrier | 103 | 6,971 | $85,174 | $382,696 | 4.5x |
| 26 | Bartlett | 102 | 56,876 | $102,070 | $321,267 | 3.1x |
| 27 | Munford | 102 | 6,588 | $89,531 | $287,684 | 3.2x |
| 28 | Millersville | 102 | 5,836 | $71,789 | $360,650 | 5.0x |
| 29 | Maryville | 101 | 32,392 | $81,963 | $390,045 | 4.8x |
| 30 | La Vergne | 100 | 40,243 | $81,313 | $346,622 | 4.3x |
| 31 | Sevierville | 100 | 18,397 | $52,421 | $417,023 | 8.0x |
| 32 | Chattanooga | 99 | 185,783 | $64,523 | $319,579 | 5.0x |
| 33 | Clarksville | 97 | 176,456 | $69,303 | $318,206 | 4.6x |
| 34 | Johnson City | 97 | 72,222 | $57,254 | $292,485 | 5.1x |
| 35 | Ashland City | 97 | 5,424 | $79,231 | $349,646 | 4.4x |
| 36 | Medina | 97 | 5,407 | $107,807 | $320,515 | 3.0x |
| 37 | Pigeon Forge | 96 | 6,375 | $53,261 | $423,694 | 8.0x |
| 38 | Jonesborough | 96 | 6,232 | $74,015 | $334,165 | 4.5x |
| 39 | Cookeville | 95 | 36,088 | $51,375 | $320,762 | 6.2x |
| 40 | Oak Ridge | 95 | 32,693 | $72,311 | $322,990 | 4.5x |
| 41 | Dickson | 95 | 16,424 | $69,678 | $344,966 | 5.0x |
| 42 | Soddy-Daisy | 95 | 13,231 | $75,113 | $359,449 | 4.8x |
| 43 | Kingston | 95 | 6,224 | $71,675 | $329,855 | 4.6x |
| 44 | Cleveland | 94 | 48,829 | $58,559 | $311,237 | 5.3x |
| 45 | Columbia | 94 | 45,441 | $63,719 | $374,476 | 5.9x |
| 46 | Shelbyville | 94 | 24,661 | $55,073 | $313,350 | 5.7x |
| 47 | Springfield | 94 | 19,255 | $59,465 | $331,464 | 5.6x |
| 48 | Athens | 94 | 14,471 | $53,929 | $260,344 | 4.8x |
| 49 | Crossville | 94 | 12,428 | $48,802 | $304,997 | 6.2x |
| 50 | Clinton | 94 | 10,239 | $68,882 | $332,661 | 4.8x |
| 51 | Mount Carmel | 94 | 5,472 | $68,866 | $262,492 | 3.8x |
| 52 | Memphis | 93 | 618,980 | $51,736 | $144,710 | 2.8x |
| 53 | Kingsport | 93 | 56,262 | $52,490 | $254,341 | 4.8x |
| 54 | Bristol | 93 | 27,636 | $58,162 | $234,603 | 4.0x |
| 55 | Tullahoma | 93 | 21,103 | $60,979 | $293,828 | 4.8x |
| 56 | Portland | 93 | 13,449 | $72,647 | $332,794 | 4.6x |
| 57 | Manchester | 93 | 12,944 | $57,500 | $325,769 | 5.7x |
| 58 | Alcoa | 93 | 12,222 | $65,714 | $314,718 | 4.8x |
| 59 | Red Bank | 93 | 12,010 | $63,983 | $307,145 | 4.8x |
| 60 | Lenoir City | 93 | 11,110 | $67,259 | $411,984 | 6.1x |
| 61 | Jackson | 92 | 68,435 | $53,032 | $227,078 | 4.3x |
| 62 | East Ridge | 92 | 22,070 | $62,247 | $257,872 | 4.1x |
| 63 | Greeneville | 92 | 15,646 | $49,889 | $248,040 | 5.0x |
| 64 | Winchester | 92 | 9,799 | $62,782 | $359,609 | 5.7x |
| 65 | Knoxville | 91 | 195,185 | $54,039 | $369,216 | 6.8x |
| 66 | Morristown | 91 | 31,527 | $47,917 | $266,073 | 5.6x |
| 67 | Jefferson City | 91 | 8,579 | $60,638 | $304,012 | 5.0x |
| 68 | Church Hill | 91 | 7,139 | $65,526 | $261,209 | 4.0x |
| 69 | Lafayette | 91 | 5,727 | $51,736 | $269,410 | 5.2x |
| 70 | Lewisburg | 90 | 12,861 | $48,341 | $299,243 | 6.2x |
| 71 | Millington | 90 | 11,289 | $49,979 | $238,393 | 4.8x |
| 72 | Covington | 90 | 8,587 | $42,254 | $208,119 | 4.9x |
| 73 | Smithville | 90 | 5,288 | $33,192 | $285,425 | 8.6x |
| 74 | Dyersburg | 89 | 15,979 | $52,064 | $165,487 | 3.2x |
| 75 | Elizabethton | 89 | 14,374 | $46,975 | $229,442 | 4.9x |
| 76 | Fayetteville | 89 | 7,057 | $49,223 | $254,902 | 5.2x |
| 77 | Martin | 88 | 10,915 | $43,381 | $214,361 | 4.9x |
| 78 | Paris | 88 | 10,338 | $41,012 | $213,854 | 5.2x |
| 79 | Pulaski | 88 | 8,285 | $48,538 | $250,196 | 5.2x |
| 80 | Dunlap | 88 | 5,678 | $45,589 | $273,219 | 6.0x |
| 81 | Madisonville | 88 | 5,241 | $39,878 | $286,953 | 7.2x |
| 82 | Milan | 87 | 8,244 | $43,886 | $181,686 | 4.1x |
| 83 | Lexington | 87 | 7,962 | $49,057 | $216,845 | 4.4x |
| 84 | Savannah | 87 | 7,412 | $39,712 | $196,053 | 4.9x |
| 85 | Newport | 87 | 6,881 | $31,250 | $227,027 | 7.3x |
| 86 | Sweetwater | 87 | 6,532 | $45,451 | $256,822 | 5.7x |
| 87 | Erwin | 87 | 5,988 | $47,487 | $223,111 | 4.7x |
| 88 | McKenzie | 87 | 5,631 | $37,236 | $189,718 | 5.1x |
| 89 | Bolivar | 87 | 5,144 | $39,028 | $147,015 | 3.8x |
| 90 | McMinnville | 85 | 13,844 | $47,179 | $255,402 | 5.4x |
| 91 | Lawrenceburg | 85 | 11,844 | $42,343 | $240,472 | 5.7x |
| 92 | Union City | 85 | 10,982 | $50,870 | $167,472 | 3.3x |
| 93 | La Follette | 85 | 7,273 | $37,581 | $161,647 | 4.3x |
| 94 | Harriman | 85 | 6,090 | $44,653 | $239,088 | 5.4x |
| 95 | Rockwood | 85 | 5,566 | $47,791 | $230,191 | 4.8x |
| 96 | Humboldt | 84 | 7,787 | $52,917 | $155,460 | 2.9x |
| 97 | Ripley | 84 | 7,658 | $37,432 | $140,001 | 3.7x |
| 98 | Henderson | 84 | 6,411 | $45,938 | $177,752 | 3.9x |
| 99 | Brownsville | 83 | 9,622 | $43,494 | $163,990 | 3.8x |
| 100 | Dayton | 83 | 7,625 | $49,719 | $264,804 | 5.3x |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 100 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Tennessee For 2026
Well, there you have it, the places in Tennessee that have the highest cost of living, with Brentwood ranking as the most expensive city in the Volunteer State.
The most expensive cities in Tennessee are Brentwood, Nolensville, Thompson’s Station, Franklin, Signal Mountain, Farragut, Germantown, Collierville, Spring Hill, and Arlington. Not sold on Tennessee? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Most Expensive Places In Tennessee FAQs
What is the most expensive place to live in Tennessee?
Brentwood is the most expensive place to live in Tennessee for 2026. The median home there runs $1,393,273, and it posts the highest cost of living of the 100 places we scored.
What are the 10 most expensive cities in Tennessee?
The ten most expensive cities in Tennessee are Brentwood, Nolensville, Thompson’s Station, Franklin, Signal Mountain, Farragut, Germantown, Collierville, Spring Hill, and Arlington. We ranked all 100 places with more than 5,000 residents on home prices, incomes, and an overall cost of living index.
How expensive are homes in Brentwood?
The median home value in Brentwood is $1,393,273, versus $333,651 across Tennessee as a whole. Across the ten most expensive cities, the median home runs $655,938.
What salary do you need to live in the most expensive parts of Tennessee?
The median household income in the ten most expensive Tennessee cities starts at $112,013, and in Brentwood it is $182,088. If your paycheck is closer to the statewide median of $69,595, these places will squeeze your budget.
What is the cheapest place to live in Tennessee?
Dayton is the cheapest of the 100 Tennessee places we ranked on cost of living. It sits at the very bottom of the same index that put Brentwood on top.
