The 10 Poorest Cities In Tennessee For 2023


The poorest places in Tennessee are Newport and Lawrenceburg for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

Tennessee brings to mind images of Nashville, beautiful landscapes, and some of the best people you’ll find in the good ole US of A.

However, like all states, Tennessee has certain places that are going on hard times. These Tennessee places have an above average percent of people that are living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.

With all the talk about income inequality going on around the country, we thought it prudent to take a look at the places in each state that are struggling to make it even as the economy continues to improve. So we set our sites on bringing attention to the poorest places in Tennessee.

To do so, we analyzed the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 99 places in Tennessee with more than 5,000 people.

Here are the ten poorest places in Tennessee for 2023:

  1. Newport
  2. Lawrenceburg
  3. Ripley
  4. Brownsville
  5. La Follette
  6. Bolivar
  7. Covington
  8. Morristown
  9. Union City
  10. Humboldt

Again, this isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.

What’s the poorst city in Tennessee? According to the facts, Newport is the poorest place in Tennessee for 2023.

To see how we calculated the top ten, and for more information about these places, read on.

For more Tennessee reading, check out:


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


The 10 Poorest Cities In Tennessee For 2023

1. Newport

Newport, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Tennessee thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.

The city of 6,845 people averages the 4th lowest median household income in Tennessee and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,845
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $33,736 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 13.4% (3rd highest)
Poverty Rate: 32.2% (highest)
More on Newport:

Newport, TN

Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | GFDL

2. Lawrenceburg

The second poorest city in Tennessee is Lawrenceburg.

The city ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty and 3rd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 7th highest in the Volunteer State.

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 11,460
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Income: $33,463 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 11.3% (7th highest)
Poverty Rate: 28.1% (4th highest)
More on Lawrenceburg:

Lawrenceburg, TN

Source: Wikipedia User Christopher Hollis for Wdwic Pictures | GFDL

3. Ripley

Placing as the third poorest city, Ripley’s median income ranks as the 8th lowest.

And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 25.846678918351273% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.

But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Volunteer State.

Overall SnackAbility

1
/10

Population: 7,856
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 3)
Median Income: $35,634 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 12.0% (4th highest)
Poverty Rate: 25.8% (10th highest)
More on Ripley:

Ripley, TN

Source: Wikipedia User Thomas R Machnitzki (thomasmachnitzki.com) | GFDL

4. Brownsville

Brownsville ranks as the fourth poorest place in Tennessee.

The town ranks as having the 6th lowest median household income and the 9th highest incidence of poverty in the state.

That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 9,807
Rank Last Year: 23 (Up 19)
Median Income: $35,395 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 10.4% (9th highest)
Poverty Rate: 26.1% (9th highest)
More on Brownsville:

Brownsville, TN

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

5. La Follette

The fifth poorest city in Tennessee is La Follette.

The city ranks as having the 20th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 3rd highest in Tennessee.

Still not the best news for La Follette.

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 7,384
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 2)
Median Income: $38,577 (20th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 21.1% (2nd highest)
Poverty Rate: 28.7% (3rd highest)
More on La Follette:

La Follette, TN

Source: Wikipedia User Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

6. Bolivar

Bolivar ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Volunteer State.

It ranks as having the 23rd highest incidence of poverty and the highest unemployment rate.

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,177
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 2)
Median Income: $33,303 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 21.7% (highest)
Poverty Rate: 23.3% (23rd highest)
More on Bolivar:

Bolivar, TN

Source: Wikipedia User RealElectrical | CC BY-SA 3.0

7. Covington

Covington places as the seventh poorest city in Tennessee.

The city of over 8,666 ranks as having the 8th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 8,666
Rank Last Year: 22 (Up 15)
Median Income: $32,205 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.6% (24th highest)
Poverty Rate: 26.5% (8th highest)
More on Covington:

Covington, TN

Source: Wikipedia User Thomas R Machnitzki | GFDL

8. Morristown

Morristown ranks as the eighth poorest city in Tennessee.

The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as the 20th highest in the state.

Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 30,387
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 1)
Median Income: $36,495 (12th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.4% (20th highest)
Poverty Rate: 25.5% (12th highest)
More on Morristown:

Morristown, TN

Source: Wikipedia User Home4tnindustry | CC BY-SA 4.0

9. Union City

Union City couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Tennessee; it ranks number 9.

While the median income is the 11th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Union City ranks as having the 14th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Tennessee.

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 11,119
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 4)
Median Income: $36,042 (11th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (22nd highest)
Poverty Rate: 25.2% (14th highest)
More on Union City:

Union City, TN

Source: Public domain

10. Humboldt

And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Tennessee is Humboldt.

The city of 7,899 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Volunteer State.

Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 7,899
Rank Last Year: 8 (Down 2)
Median Income: $35,848 (9th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.4% (25th highest)
Poverty Rate: 25.3% (13th highest)
More on Humboldt:

Humboldt, TN

Source: Public domain

Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In Tennessee for 2023

The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.

However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:

  • Poverty Level
  • Median Household Income adjusted for the cost of living
  • Unemployment Rate

The “median household income adjusted for the cost of living” attempts to gauge how expensive it is to live in a place and how that impacts the quality of life. For example, a town might have fewer people living below the official poverty line, but the cost of living is so high they’d still feel poor.

The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for improvement in the city or town. If more people are employed, the brighter the future looks and vice versa.

After we collected the data for all 99 places with more than 5,000 people in Tennessee, we ranked each place from 1 to 99 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.

We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Newport, crowned the “Poorest Place In Tennessee For 2023”.

This report has been updated for 2023, which is our tenth time ranking the poorest places in Tennessee.

Summary: The Poorest Places In Tennessee For 2023

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Tennessee, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Tennessee.

When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.

If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in Tennessee, according to data:

    Richest: Nolensville
    2nd Richest: Brentwood
    3rd Richest: Farragut

For more Tennessee reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In Tennessee

Rank City Population Poverty Rate
1 Newport 6,845 32.2%
2 Lawrenceburg 11,460 28.1%
3 Ripley 7,856 25.8%
4 Brownsville 9,807 26.1%
5 La Follette 7,384 28.7%
6 Bolivar 5,177 23.3%
7 Covington 8,666 26.5%
8 Morristown 30,387 25.5%
9 Union City 11,119 25.2%
10 Humboldt 7,899 25.3%
11 Lexington 7,849 20.4%
12 Crossville 11,892 22.2%
13 Rockwood 5,492 21.0%
14 Martin 10,536 29.2%
15 Memphis 634,139 24.2%
16 Sweetwater 6,228 20.5%
17 Pulaski 8,163 24.4%
18 Jackson 67,753 23.7%
19 Elizabethton 14,112 21.6%
20 Dyersburg 16,235 23.7%
21 Madisonville 5,059 15.6%
22 Bristol 27,154 19.6%
23 Dunlap 5,252 27.5%
24 Mcminnville 13,699 27.7%
25 Henderson 6,232 25.1%
26 Cookeville 34,068 21.7%
27 Athens 13,961 22.1%
28 Dayton 7,112 23.4%
29 Lafayette 5,458 25.1%
30 Lewisburg 12,131 20.5%
31 Jefferson City 8,173 19.6%
32 Kingsport 55,019 20.7%
33 Paris 10,332 27.2%
34 Springfield 18,561 23.6%
35 Johnson City 69,521 21.6%
36 Millington 10,583 18.1%
37 Knoxville 189,339 21.3%
38 Fayetteville 6,988 17.4%
39 Savannah 7,157 25.5%
40 Greeneville 15,361 14.9%
41 Shelbyville 23,005 19.0%
42 Mckenzie 5,590 18.2%
43 Erwin 6,052 18.5%
44 Dickson 15,855 17.3%
45 East Ridge 21,967 15.5%
46 Chattanooga 180,353 17.6%
47 Milan 8,143 15.8%
48 Lenoir City 9,953 17.8%
49 Cleveland 46,747 18.0%
50 Harriman 5,936 20.2%
51 Church Hill 6,973 10.1%
52 Clarksville 163,518 13.2%
53 Ashland City 5,041 14.0%
54 Mount Carmel 5,460 8.0%
55 Sevierville 18,038 19.0%
56 Pigeon Forge 6,362 22.3%
57 Tullahoma 20,599 17.2%
58 Oak Ridge 31,087 14.6%
59 Clinton 9,982 15.0%
60 Portland 13,031 14.3%
61 Winchester 9,299 15.2%
62 Nashville 682,646 14.5%
63 Red Bank 11,855 13.7%
64 Manchester 11,956 16.4%
65 Lebanon 37,471 14.5%
66 Smyrna 52,401 11.9%
67 Columbia 40,957 12.5%
68 Kingston 5,942 6.0%
69 Alcoa 10,777 10.3%
70 Goodlettsville 17,522 10.2%
71 Soddy-Daisy 13,090 8.3%
72 Murfreesboro 148,970 12.1%
73 La Vergne 38,127 11.1%
74 Hartsville/trousdale County 11,463 12.5%
75 Hendersonville 60,628 7.1%
76 Munford 6,269 5.7%
77 Gallatin 43,306 14.5%
78 Collegedale 10,973 10.8%
79 Atoka 9,863 4.3%
80 Maryville 31,281 8.4%
81 Millersville 6,099 8.3%
82 Bartlett 57,639 4.9%
83 Lakeland 13,693 5.8%
84 Fairview 9,299 10.2%
85 Oakland 8,805 6.2%
86 Mount Juliet 38,059 5.7%
87 Thompson’s Station 7,011 3.7%
88 Jonesborough 5,747 6.9%
89 Arlington 14,158 6.1%
90 White House 12,820 5.7%
91 Franklin 81,531 5.1%
92 Greenbrier 6,845 6.2%
93 Collierville 50,669 2.8%
94 Germantown 40,955 2.4%
95 Spring Hill 48,403 2.5%
96 Signal Mountain 8,770 2.2%
97 Farragut 23,388 3.3%
98 Brentwood 44,354 2.6%
99 Nolensville 13,393 1.0%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

2 thoughts on “The 10 Poorest Cities In Tennessee For 2023

  1. Is Livingston,Tennessee better off or worse today than 10 years ago ,now under a Black Mayor, Curtis Hayes,The mayor only has a High school education without any business experience? with Population,Economy, Housing?
    I know the square is worse today than 10 years ago because of several business have closed on the square ,plus the pawn Shop had to close.

    And with over 33 empty building in Church and Main street.

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