You might think Tennessee cities are all about high-end country music stars and expensive real estate. But let’s clear up that misconception.
Many of the cities in Tennessee offer a low cost of living, making them some of the most affordable places around.
From the vibrant streets of Nashville to the soulful corners of Memphis, the Volunteer State offers an array of cheap places to live that won’t have you breaking your piggy bank.
Our methodology for identifying Tennessee’s cheapest places to live is straightforward. We use Saturday Night Science and Census data to consider multiple factors, including median home prices, average rent costs, and incomes. After comparing 98 cities, we arrived at this affordable list.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Table | FAQs | Summary
The 10 most affordable places to live in Tennessee
What is the most affordable city in Tennessee for 2024? The most affordable city in Tennessee is La Follette.
Now grab yourself a slice of pecan pie and some Tennessee Whiskey, and read on to learn more about the cheapest places to live in Tennessee.
Check out some more reading about Tennessee and the cheapest places in the country:
The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Tennessee For 2024
/10
Population: 7,349
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 75
Median Income: $35,705
Median Home Price: $143,885
Median Rent: $729
La Follette, located in Tennessee, is a city that offers an affordable cost of living for its residents. With a median home value of $143,885 and a median rent of $729, La Follette provides reasonable housing options for those looking to settle down.
LaFollette is a vibrant city that seamlessly blends growth and modern amenities with its small-town charm. LaFollette provides a delightful mix of mountainous landscapes, a nearby lake, and a forty-five-minute commute to Knoxville. Whether you’re a visitor or a potential resident, LaFollette welcomes you to experience its unique appeal and hopes you’ll choose to make it your home.
More on La Follette: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
/10
Population: 5,468
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 77
Median Income: $43,309
Median Home Price: $211,898
Median Rent: $708
Rockwood is not only our second most affordable city in The Volunteer State, the locals call it “The Place to be in Tennessee.” And that, folks, is because of the great people that live here and the fact that they are the 56th most affordable place to buy a home.
Located just off the 40 along the Clinch River, Rockwood is a must see for anyone looking to relocate to Tennessee.
More on Rockwood: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
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Population: 11,592
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 78
Median Income: $37,644
Median Home Price: $219,030
Median Rent: $729
Lawrenceburg claimed the third place on our list of the cheapest cities in Tennessee. Located in the southern region of the state, its low $219,030 average home price and competitive $729 average rent rank 25th and 22nd respectively within Tennessee.
The city’s overall cost of living at 78 falls below the national and state average. Shiloh National Military Park is near Lawrenceburg for free fun to keep your wallet full.
More on Lawrenceburg: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
I’m mighty proud to be from Lawrenceburg, The Dimple of the Universe. Best place in Tennessee. And by the way, those who don’t know where Hohenwald is…. it’s only about an hour away. Pulaski is maybe 20 minutes away. One more thing….. don’t mess with us!
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Population: 630,027
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $48,090
Median Home Price: $144,868
Median Rent: $1,050
Memphis, a major city in the southwest corner of Tennessee, ranks as the fourth most affordable city in the state. Thanks to an overall cost of living index of 80 that sits well below the state average. With a $144,868 average home price, housing is 20 less than average in Tennessee.
That makes Bluff City a beacon for budget-conscious buyers,
More on Memphis: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
I like the convenience of living in the up town area of Memphis. its close to many restaurants and venues and the house I have is fairly new. the problem with Memphis is that no matter where you live, theres a slum area nearby. you can be driving through a neighborhood with upscale housing and clean streets and all of a sudden there’s an area that definitely on the downgrade with abandoned houses, prostitutes, and trash laden streets.
wonderful music events and great food venues.
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Population: 7,851
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $40,299
Median Home Price: $147,035
Median Rent: $728
Humboldt, north of I-40 near Jackson, ranks as the fifth most affordable city with living costs 11.1% below the state average and average home prices ranking sixth lowest in the state. A typical home in Humboldt costs approximately $147,035.
Renters benefit from Humboldt’s $40,299 average income to with $728 average rent.
More on Humboldt: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
I have lived in Tennessee for 46 years and I love it growing up in a small town where everyone knows your name knows who your parents are and always looking out for each other and being true neighbors. I live 45 mins from Humboldt it is a nice town I have 2 nephews and great nieces that live there
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Population: 6,000
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $45,458
Median Home Price: $213,706
Median Rent: $724
Harriman, located in eastern Tennessee 45 minutes from Knoxville, is the sixth cheapest city in Tennessee with a cost of living index at 80. The city’s 6,000 residents appreciate a housing market with average costs 31% below the state average.
The TVA Wetland Viewing Area and Trails and Kingston City Park offer free things to do on the weekends.
More on Harriman: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
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Population: 5,120
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $40,769
Median Home Price: $257,114
Median Rent: $697
Madisonville is loosely a Knoxville suburb about an hour south between Knoxville and Chattanooga. Madisonville is the seventh cheapest city in the Volunteer State. It’s easy to save money when home prices are $257,114 and the overall cost of living sits at 80, 11.1% lower than the Tennessee average.
Madisonville’s average income comes in at $40,769 per the latest Census and because the cost of living is so low, you’ll save more of it for weekend trips to Conasauga Falls Trail or Memphis In May International Festival.
More on Madisonville: Data | Crime | Real Estate
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Population: 11,068
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 81
Median Income: $42,620
Median Home Price: $144,891
Median Rent: $700
You might want to have a job before you choose the eighth most affordable place to live in Tennessee, Union City. The unemployment rate here is way above the national average.
But, don’t let this scare you. You’d be doing yourself a favor if you moved to the UC because this city has a lot to offer. Discovery Park of America is located here and some of the best Tennessee BBQ at Bad Bob’s BBQ.
More on Union City: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
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Population: 9,739
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 81
Median Income: $38,662
Median Home Price: $151,683
Median Rent: $706
Another Memphis suburb, Brownsville ranks as the ninth cheapest place in the state. It’s an hour or so north of Memphis, halfway to Nashville.
The overall cost of living index of 81 includes low index values for utilities, services, and healthcare. The Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge provides affordable outdoor fun for the family.
More on Brownsville: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
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Population: 8,644
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 81
Median Income: $44,384
Median Home Price: $175,849
Median Rent: $843
In Tipton County, you’ll find the tenth cheapest city in the state – Covington. It just made it onto the list with a manageable 81 overall cost of living index 9 points lower than the state average.
The home price to income ratio of 3.96 places 20th best statewide. That means you have more of your income to spend on quality ingredients for hot fried chicken and BBQ.
More on Covington: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate
I am from Covington, TN. I am extremely proud of where I was raised because it made a humble man with intentions of building the community.
Cheapest places to live in Tennessee FAQs
The county in Tennessee with the lowest cost of living is Carroll County. The average living wage in Carroll County is $73,333 according to MIT data. Carroll County has the lowest cost of living because it has relatively less expensive childcare and housing costs compared to Tennessee as a whole. Childcare costs $10,572 a year in Carroll County for two children compared to the Tennessee average of $12,473. Housing costs, defined as a blend of the average rent and average mortgage payment, are $7,956 per year in Carroll County compared to $10,853 on average in Tennessee.
The cost of living in Tennessee is 12.2% lower than the US average. According to MIT, the required living wage for a family of four with two working parents in Tennessee is $78,800 vs the national average for a family of four with two working parents of $89,744. The median income of a Tennessee household is $54,833.
The cheapest housing market in Tennessee is Humboldt. The average home value in Humboldt is $84,600, the lowest in the state. The average home value in Tennessee is $177,600, almost 2.1 times higher than Humboldt.
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Volunteer State for 2024
Determining affordability for places in Tennessee boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2018-2022 for Tennessee using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Tennessee to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 98 places in Tennessee that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Tennessee with the lowest cost of living according to the data is La Follette.
We updated this article for 2024. This report reflects our tenth time ranking the cheapest places to live in Tennessee.
Tennessee Affordabilility Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Tennessee for 2024, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Tennessee.
The cheapest cities in Tennessee are La Follette, Rockwood, Lawrenceburg, Memphis, Humboldt, Harriman, Madisonville, Union City, Brownsville, and Covington.
Here’s a look at the most expensive cities in Tennessee according to the data:
- Brentwood
- Thompson’s Station
- Nolensville
For more Tennessee reading, check out:
Cheapest Places To Live In Tennessee
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Follette | 7,349 | 75 | $35,705 | $143,885 | $729 |
| 2 | Rockwood | 5,468 | 77 | $43,309 | $211,898 | $708 |
| 3 | Lawrenceburg | 11,592 | 78 | $37,644 | $219,030 | $729 |
| 4 | Memphis | 630,027 | 80 | $48,090 | $144,868 | $1,050 |
| 5 | Humboldt | 7,851 | 80 | $40,299 | $147,035 | $728 |
| 6 | Harriman | 6,000 | 80 | $45,458 | $213,706 | $724 |
| 7 | Madisonville | 5,120 | 80 | $40,769 | $257,114 | $697 |
| 8 | Union City | 11,068 | 81 | $42,620 | $144,891 | $700 |
| 9 | Brownsville | 9,739 | 81 | $38,662 | $151,683 | $706 |
| 10 | Covington | 8,644 | 81 | $44,384 | $175,849 | $843 |
| 11 | Pulaski | 8,301 | 81 | $41,585 | $234,571 | $807 |
| 12 | Lexington | 7,927 | 81 | $45,877 | $191,622 | $719 |
| 13 | Savannah | 7,206 | 81 | $40,200 | $171,551 | $724 |
| 14 | McKenzie | 5,608 | 81 | $38,628 | $169,167 | $647 |
| 15 | Bolivar | 5,197 | 81 | $36,348 | $135,889 | $822 |
| 16 | Knoxville | 191,857 | 82 | $48,309 | $339,691 | $1,043 |
| 17 | Paris | 10,311 | 82 | $39,378 | $182,391 | $739 |
| 18 | Ripley | 7,794 | 82 | $39,454 | $136,891 | $688 |
| 19 | Newport | 6,850 | 82 | $35,784 | $197,359 | $750 |
| 20 | Sweetwater | 6,310 | 82 | $38,750 | $235,894 | $619 |
| 21 | Dyersburg | 16,170 | 83 | $50,550 | $148,257 | $724 |
| 22 | McMinnville | 13,756 | 83 | $42,130 | $232,009 | $720 |
| 23 | Bristol | 27,307 | 84 | $49,130 | $208,878 | $746 |
| 24 | Lewisburg | 12,376 | 84 | $45,938 | $279,150 | $833 |
| 25 | Martin | 10,823 | 84 | $38,235 | $190,865 | $746 |
| 26 | Lenoir City | 10,291 | 84 | $53,100 | $368,722 | $923 |
| 27 | Milan | 8,165 | 84 | $42,909 | $166,736 | $726 |
| 28 | Henderson | 6,326 | 84 | $44,077 | $157,637 | $672 |
| 29 | Dunlap | 5,443 | 84 | $42,188 | $224,978 | $828 |
| 30 | Shelbyville | 23,676 | 85 | $50,694 | $285,526 | $882 |
| 31 | Millington | 10,558 | 85 | $49,543 | $226,046 | $1,044 |
| 32 | Dayton | 7,139 | 85 | $54,511 | $229,513 | $752 |
| 33 | Lafayette | 5,555 | 85 | $40,240 | $247,931 | $842 |
| 34 | Ashland City | 5,213 | 85 | $69,974 | $320,987 | $1,242 |
| 35 | Kingsport | 55,415 | 86 | $48,228 | $230,055 | $772 |
| 36 | Columbia | 42,474 | 86 | $58,110 | $347,595 | $1,068 |
| 37 | Greeneville | 15,458 | 86 | $46,473 | $212,344 | $661 |
| 38 | Portland | 13,177 | 86 | $68,315 | $306,039 | $989 |
| 39 | Manchester | 12,325 | 86 | $53,639 | $296,307 | $871 |
| 40 | Crossville | 12,099 | 86 | $44,375 | $287,358 | $740 |
| 41 | Alcoa | 11,095 | 86 | $63,580 | $283,927 | $1,017 |
| 42 | Clinton | 10,060 | 86 | $63,706 | $291,859 | $861 |
| 43 | Fayetteville | 7,026 | 86 | $45,391 | $228,303 | $716 |
| 44 | Church Hill | 7,016 | 86 | $65,518 | $231,699 | $940 |
| 45 | Kingston | 5,987 | 86 | $67,637 | $308,377 | $727 |
| 46 | Morristown | 30,574 | 87 | $39,547 | $232,083 | $814 |
| 47 | East Ridge | 22,040 | 87 | $53,103 | $241,145 | $1,024 |
| 48 | Sevierville | 17,986 | 87 | $49,449 | $374,979 | $969 |
| 49 | Soddy-Daisy | 13,091 | 87 | $64,119 | $322,092 | $945 |
| 50 | Red Bank | 11,919 | 87 | $59,027 | $287,926 | $1,009 |
| 51 | Jefferson City | 8,391 | 87 | $48,212 | $270,307 | $780 |
| 52 | Erwin | 6,026 | 87 | $40,670 | $200,144 | $606 |
| 53 | Mount Carmel | 5,486 | 87 | $64,971 | $238,849 | $744 |
| 54 | Cleveland | 47,725 | 88 | $52,468 | $280,069 | $922 |
| 55 | Dickson | 16,051 | 88 | $65,244 | $315,729 | $933 |
| 56 | Athens | 14,091 | 88 | $50,150 | $236,668 | $795 |
| 57 | Winchester | 9,450 | 88 | $58,054 | $314,326 | $796 |
| 58 | Jackson | 67,993 | 89 | $48,058 | $214,290 | $1,007 |
| 59 | Oak Ridge | 31,535 | 89 | $67,152 | $283,423 | $1,033 |
| 60 | Tullahoma | 21,107 | 89 | $56,771 | $264,990 | $824 |
| 61 | Springfield | 18,775 | 89 | $55,392 | $311,432 | $1,000 |
| 62 | Munford | 6,357 | 89 | $89,397 | $264,122 | $1,117 |
| 63 | Elizabethton | 14,375 | 90 | $44,252 | $207,286 | $725 |
| 64 | Greenbrier | 6,954 | 90 | $94,280 | $363,695 | $1,083 |
| 65 | La Vergne | 38,553 | 91 | $77,531 | $335,140 | $1,603 |
| 66 | Cookeville | 34,967 | 91 | $48,094 | $295,584 | $855 |
| 67 | Maryville | 31,876 | 91 | $74,610 | $356,939 | $1,070 |
| 68 | Pigeon Forge | 6,345 | 91 | $53,380 | $464,290 | $858 |
| 69 | Chattanooga | 181,288 | 92 | $57,703 | $294,487 | $1,066 |
| 70 | Clarksville | 167,882 | 92 | $62,688 | $298,690 | $1,119 |
| 71 | Gallatin | 44,947 | 92 | $68,548 | $421,419 | $1,250 |
| 72 | Millersville | 5,818 | 92 | $67,445 | $315,668 | $1,191 |
| 73 | Smyrna | 53,760 | 93 | $76,115 | $383,291 | $1,281 |
| 74 | Atoka | 10,070 | 93 | $87,928 | $333,000 | $1,308 |
| 75 | Nashville | 684,103 | 94 | $71,328 | $428,714 | $1,392 |
| 76 | Johnson City | 70,720 | 94 | $53,173 | $265,790 | $893 |
| 77 | Jonesborough | 5,891 | 94 | $68,802 | $301,729 | $1,036 |
| 78 | Bartlett | 57,481 | 95 | $94,603 | $323,963 | $1,492 |
| 79 | Lebanon | 39,562 | 95 | $63,698 | $424,030 | $1,151 |
| 80 | White House | 13,305 | 95 | $85,404 | $382,688 | $1,305 |
| 81 | Fairview | 9,519 | 95 | $82,344 | $471,482 | $1,150 |
| 82 | Collegedale | 11,001 | 96 | $69,942 | $393,856 | $1,366 |
| 83 | Murfreesboro | 153,487 | 97 | $70,451 | $400,303 | $1,272 |
| 84 | Goodlettsville | 17,500 | 97 | $64,581 | $386,325 | $1,343 |
| 85 | Oakland | 9,139 | 98 | $86,433 | $339,678 | $1,766 |
| 86 | Spring Hill | 51,319 | 101 | $104,880 | $494,066 | $1,688 |
| 87 | Hendersonville | 61,589 | 102 | $86,954 | $492,503 | $1,407 |
| 88 | Mount Juliet | 39,525 | 103 | $108,066 | $532,466 | $1,774 |
| 89 | Collierville | 51,170 | 104 | $129,729 | $496,528 | $1,488 |
| 90 | Arlington | 14,342 | 104 | $116,409 | $403,058 | $1,725 |
| 91 | Lakeland | 13,811 | 104 | $108,206 | $436,028 | $1,480 |
| 92 | Germantown | 41,094 | 111 | $140,429 | $477,703 | $1,700 |
| 93 | Farragut | 23,795 | 114 | $135,725 | $639,373 | $1,525 |
| 94 | Franklin | 83,630 | 115 | $106,592 | $851,106 | $1,785 |
| 95 | Signal Mountain | 8,833 | 117 | $132,639 | $537,026 | $1,670 |
| 96 | Nolensville | 14,444 | 120 | $158,266 | $772,828 | $2,714 |
| 97 | Thompson’s Station | 7,426 | 121 | $116,569 | $737,448 | $2,116 |
| 98 | Brentwood | 44,830 | 148 | $181,576 | $1,231,379 | $2,459 |