The 10 Dumbest Places In Tennessee For 2025

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that some places in the Volunteer State have a larger percent of their population that never graduated from high school.

While the emphasis on going to college might be overblown, the fact is that not graduating from high school puts you at a significant disadvantage on average. Educational attainment might not be the best way to measure one person’s intelligence, but it does shine a light on the state.

We will use Saturday Night Science to determine what places in Tennessee have the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree.

A recent study we published found that Tennessee is the 38th smartest state in the United States, with an average IQ of 98.

But that doesn’t mean that a few cities in Tennessee are a bit slower than others due to a lack of basic education.

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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

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The 10 Dumbest Places In Tennessee

1. Pigeon Forge
2. La Follette
3. Shelbyville
4. Bolivar
5. Brownsville
6. Dunlap
7. Smithville
8. Lafayette
9. Madisonville
10. Newport

Don’t freak out.

Some places are just smarter than others, but that says nothing about the character of the people living there. It’s another data point a real estate agent would never tell you.

For this ranking, we only looked at cities with populations greater than 5,000, leaving us 95 cities in Tennessee to rank. You can take a look at the data below.

For more Tennessee reading, check out:

• Best Places To Live In Tennessee
• Safest Places To Live In Tennessee

The 10 Dumbest Places In Tennessee For 2025

1. Pigeon Forge

Source: Wikipedia User Edward C. Denny | GFDL

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 6,345
% Adult High School Dropout: 26.0%
% Highly Educated: 11.0%
More on Pigeon Forge: Data

2. La Follette

Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 7,308
% Adult High School Dropout: 20.0%
% Highly Educated: 8.0%
More on La Follette: Data

3. Shelbyville

Source: Wikipedia User Ichabod | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 24,125
% Adult High School Dropout: 23.0%
% Highly Educated: 11.0%
More on Shelbyville: Data

4. Bolivar

Source: Wikipedia User RealElectrical | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,171
% Adult High School Dropout: 18.0%
% Highly Educated: 12.0%
More on Bolivar: Data

5. Brownsville

Source: Wikipedia User Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) | GFDL

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 9,634
% Adult High School Dropout: 18.0%
% Highly Educated: 12.0%
More on Brownsville: Data

6. Dunlap

Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,546
% Adult High School Dropout: 22.0%
% Highly Educated: 13.0%
More on Dunlap: Data

7. Smithville

Source: Wikipedia User Ichabod | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,158
% Adult High School Dropout: 35.0%
% Highly Educated: 14.0%
More on Smithville: Data

8. Lafayette

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,643
% Adult High School Dropout: 19.0%
% Highly Educated: 13.0%
More on Lafayette: Data

9. Madisonville

Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | GFDL

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,184
% Adult High School Dropout: 18.0%
% Highly Educated: 13.0%
More on Madisonville: Data

10. Newport

Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | GFDL

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,881
% Adult High School Dropout: 17.0%
% Highly Educated: 12.0%
More on Newport: Data

Methodology: How we determined the dumbest cities in the Volunteer State

We realize that formal education is only part of it when it comes to being intelligent, but on the other hand, knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.

So, we used Saturday Night Science to narrow down our criteria to focus on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.

In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in Tennessee:

• % of the city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
• % of city’s population with a college degree (Age 25+)

We got the data from the U.S. Census 2019-2023 American Community Survey.

Then, our algorithm generates a rank for each place in these categories. After crunching all the numbers, a ranking of the cities in Tennessee from dumbest to brightest.

For this ranking, we used every Tennessee city with at least 5,000 residents. We updated this article for 2025, and it’s our tenth time ranking the dumbest cities in Tennessee.

There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep

If you’re measuring the locations in Tennessee where there are a high number of dropouts and adults who never received a formal education, this is an accurate ranking.

The dumbest cities in Tennessee are Pigeon Forge, La Follette, Shelbyville, Bolivar, Brownsville, Dunlap, Smithville, Lafayette, Madisonville, and Newport.

If you’re also curious enough, here are the smartest places in Tennessee, according to science:

1. Brentwood
2. Germantown
3. Signal Mountain

For more Tennessee reading, check out:

• Best Places To Live In Tennessee
• Cheapest Places To Live In Tennessee
• Most Dangerous Cities In Tennessee
• Richest Cities In Tennessee
• Safest Places In Tennessee
• Worst Places To Live In Tennessee
• Most Expensive Places To Live In Tennessee

Dumbest Cities In Tennessee For 2025