Southeast · Updated October 2026
Tennessee in numbers, from the same public data Locustep uses to rank all 50 states: rent, pay, taxes, safety, disaster risk and weather, plus the cities worth a look.
Two-bedroom rent
$1,381/mo
U.S. average $1,759
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state)
Rent vs. income
23.0%
of median household income for a year of two-bedroom rent
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 ÷ 2024 ACS 1-year estimates (Census B19013)
State income tax
None
on wage income
One of 9 states with no wage income tax
State revenue departments, 2026 income tax rates (sources listed per state)
Property tax
0.45%
effective rate on owner-occupied homes
Everyday costs
95.6
index, housing excluded (U.S. = 100)
BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released February 2026), housing and utilities removed
Natural disaster risk
38th
percentile, FEMA expected annual loss (lower is safer)
Where Tennessee stands out: no state income tax on wages, the 2nd lightest state and local tax bill, the 5th lowest property taxes and the 9th lowest everyday costs among the 50 states.
What to weigh: the 3rd highest violent crime.
Overall, a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 3.8% of it in state and local income, property and sales tax here, the 2nd lowest of the 50 states.
Average afternoon highs and overnight lows in Nashville (Nashville Intl Airport station), NOAA 1991–2020 normals.
| Season | High | Low |
|---|---|---|
| Winter (Dec–Feb) | 52°F | 32°F |
| Spring (Mar–May) | 72°F | 49°F |
| Summer (Jun–Aug) | 90°F | 69°F |
| Fall (Sep–Nov) | 73°F | 50°F |
$1,798/mo two-bedroom · $1,650 one-bedroom (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN HUD Metro FMR Area)
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.
$1,301/mo two-bedroom · $1,191 one-bedroom (Memphis, TN-MS-AR HUD Metro FMR Area)
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.
$1,475/mo two-bedroom · $1,178 one-bedroom (Knoxville, TN HUD Metro FMR Area)
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.
$1,340/mo two-bedroom · $1,231 one-bedroom (Chattanooga, TN-GA MSA)
Chattanooga is a mid-sized river city that reinvented itself around outdoor recreation and municipal gigabit internet, ringed by climbing, paddling and hiking. Very affordable, scenic, with a modest but growing professional job market.
$1,307/mo two-bedroom · $1,068 one-bedroom (Clarksville, TN-KY HUD Metro FMR Area)
Clarksville is a fast-growing city beside Fort Campbell, about an hour northwest of Nashville, with Austin Peay State University. Affordable compared with Nashville, young and transient.
$1,211/mo two-bedroom · $948 one-bedroom (Johnson City, TN MSA)
Johnson City is an Appalachian city with East Tennessee State University and a large regional medical centre. Mountains close by, low costs and a pleasant four-season climate.
$1,798/mo two-bedroom · $1,650 one-bedroom (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN HUD Metro FMR Area)
Franklin is an affluent, historic suburb south of Nashville with a picture-postcard main street and excellent schools. Expensive by Tennessee standards, deeply family-oriented, and dependent on Nashville for jobs and nightlife.
$1,091/mo two-bedroom · $845 one-bedroom (Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA MSA)
Kingsport is a planned industrial city in the Tri-Cities area, home to Eastman Chemical. Affordable, with the mountains and lakes of northeast Tennessee nearby.
Rents: HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state) (metro areas). City notes: Locustep.
Closest on Locustep’s match factors: cost, housing, taxes, safety, jobs, schools, healthcare, outdoors, disaster risk and climate.
Ranks compare the 50 states. Locustep updates these figures when the agencies publish new data.
No. Tennessee is one of nine states that don’t tax wage income. Sales and property taxes still apply: a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 3.8% of income in state and local income, property and sales tax (Locustep estimate, 2026).
A typical two-bedroom rents for about $1,381 a month and a one-bedroom for about $1,196, using HUD’s FY2027 Fair Market Rents averaged across the state by population. That is $378 less than the U.S. average of $1,759. Rent in the bigger metros can be well above the state figure.
Leaving housing aside, everyday prices (goods and services other than housing) index at 95.6 against a U.S. average of 100 (BEA, 2024), and the median home value indexes at 92.2 against the U.S. median (Census, 2024). Two-bedroom rent takes 23.0% of the state’s median household income of $71,997.
Tennessee recorded 592.3 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024 (FBI), the 3rd highest rate of the 50 states. Crime varies a lot between and within cities, so check the specific area you’re considering.
The main hazards are tornadoes. On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Tennessee’s expected yearly loss from natural hazards sits at the 38th percentile nationally (lower is safer). Risk differs sharply by county, so look up the county too.
Places people most often weigh include Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Clarksville. Each has a different cost, climate and character; Locustep compares their rent, disaster risk, weather and pay side by side.