Georgia vs Tennessee: Cost of Living, Taxes, Rent and Safety Compared
Weighing a move between Georgia and Tennessee? Here’s how they compare on the numbers that decide most moves, from the same public data Locustep uses to rank all 50 states.
Shaded cells are the lower-cost, higher-income or lower-risk figure. Indexes: U.S. average = 100.
What it means for your budget
Rent alone: moving from Georgia to Tennessee changes a typical two-bedroom rent by −$147 a month (−$1,764 a year); the move the other way flips the sign. Taxes, pay, insurance and the move itself shift too, and how much depends on your income, your household and the city you pick.
That’s exactly what Locustep’s Net-Impact Report works out: your take-home pay after state and local taxes in both places, rent or buy for your budget, insurance and moving costs, and the month the move pays for itself.
Which state fits you better?
On Locustep’s directional scores, Georgia leads on schools and airport access. Which of those matters depends entirely on you.
Where people look in each state
Georgia
Atlanta
$1,762/mo two-bedroom
Atlanta is the economic and cultural capital of the Southeast — a major Black professional and creative centre, huge film industry, and the world's busiest airport. Sprawling and traffic-heavy, hot and humid, with a wide range of costs by neighbourhood.
Savannah
$1,679/mo two-bedroom
Savannah is a small, beautiful, heavily touristed historic port city built around live-oak squares. A strong art-school presence, an excellent food scene, oppressive summer humidity and a job market concentrated in tourism, logistics and the port.
Augusta
$1,329/mo two-bedroom
Augusta is a modest riverside city known mainly for the Masters, with a large medical university and an expanding Army cyber-command presence. Very affordable, quiet, and hot — with a job market increasingly tied to defence technology.
Nashville is a booming Southern city with a music industry, a huge healthcare sector and a tourism district that locals mostly avoid. Growth has been explosive, housing costs have followed, and the traffic infrastructure has not kept up.
Memphis
$1,301/mo two-bedroom
Memphis is a Mississippi River city with extraordinary musical heritage, world-class barbecue and the FedEx hub. Genuinely cheap housing, a serious violent-crime problem in parts of the city, and a grittier, less polished feel than Nashville.
Knoxville
$1,475/mo two-bedroom
Knoxville is an affordable university city at the doorstep of the Great Smoky Mountains, with a walkable downtown square and a strong outdoor scene. Quieter than Nashville, cheaper than Asheville, and increasingly popular with remote workers.
On rent, Tennessee is cheaper: a typical two-bedroom is $1,381 a month against $1,528 (HUD FY2027). Everyday costs, housing excluded, index at 97.9 in Georgia and 95.6 in Tennessee (U.S. = 100). Whether you come out ahead also depends on your pay and taxes in each state.
Which has lower taxes, Georgia or Tennessee?
Tennessee. A married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 3.8% of it in state and local taxes, against 7.7% in Georgia (Locustep estimate). Tennessee has no tax on wages; Georgia’s top rate is 4.99%.
Is Georgia safer than Tennessee?
By violent crime, Georgia is lower: 325.7 per 100,000 residents against 592.3 (FBI, 2024). On natural hazards, FEMA puts Georgia at the 25th percentile and Tennessee at the 38th (lower is safer).
Which has better weather, Georgia or Tennessee?
It depends what you want. Winter afternoons average 56°F in Atlanta and 52°F in Nashville; summer afternoons 89°F and 90°F (NOAA 1991–2020). Georgia: hot & humid, subtropical. Tennessee: hot & humid, subtropical.