Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Memphis might be more expensive than living in rural Tennessee, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Memphis neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Memphis are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Memphis for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Berclair-Highland Heights looks to be the cheapest Memphis neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Memphis. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Memphis that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Memphis.
For more Tennessee reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Tennessee
- Cheapest Places To Live In Tennessee
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 5 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Memphis For 2024
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Population: 32,735
Cost Of Living Index: 76 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.026 (10th cheapest)
More on Berclair-Highland Heights: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 87,467
Cost Of Living Index: 77 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.023 (6th cheapest)
More on White Haven-Coro Lake: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 58,688
Cost Of Living Index: 78 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.024 (8th cheapest)
More on Raleigh: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 38,591
Cost Of Living Index: 77 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.026 (11th cheapest)
More on Parkway Village-Oakhaven: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 66,172
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.024 (7th cheapest)
More on Hickory Ridge-South Riverdale: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Memphis Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Memphis, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 13 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Memphis.” We’re lookin’ at you, Berclair-Highland Heights.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Memphis. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Memphis
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Memphis where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Memphis are Berclair-Highland Heights, White Haven-Coro Lake, Raleigh, Parkway Village-Oakhaven, Hickory Ridge-South Riverdale, River Oaks-Kirby-Balmoral, East Memphis-Colonial-Yorkshire, Shelby Forest-Frayser, Windyke-Southwind, and Cordova-Appling.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Memphis aren’t all cheap. Eads-Fisherville takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Memphis.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Memphis are Eads-Fisherville, Downtown, Midtown, Cordova-Appling, and Windyke-Southwind.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Tennessee reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In Tennessee
- Richest Cities In Tennessee
- Safest Places In Tennessee
- Worst Places To Live In Tennessee
Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Memphis For 2024
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berclair-Highland Heights | 76 |
| 2 | White Haven-Coro Lake | 77 |
| 3 | Raleigh | 78 |
| 4 | Parkway Village-Oakhaven | 77 |
| 5 | Hickory Ridge-South Riverdale | 82 |
| 6 | River Oaks-Kirby-Balmoral | 89 |
| 7 | East Memphis-Colonial-Yorkshire | 85 |
| 8 | Shelby Forest-Frayser | 76 |
| 9 | Windyke-Southwind | 101 |
| 10 | Cordova-Appling | 88 |
| 11 | Midtown | 80 |
| 12 | Downtown | 75 |
| 13 | Eads-Fisherville | 96 |