The 10 Worst Places To Live In Tennessee For 2023


The worst places to live in Tennessee are Ripley and Bolivar for 2023 based on Friday Night Science.

“Tennessee is a lot more than country music and barbecue.”

Well said, random internet comment. Well said.

Tennessee has tons of history and culture. Friendly people, great food, and it’s one of the most beautiful states in the nation.

You could do a lot worse when you pick a place to live, that’s for sure.

But is it all good in the Volunteer State? Of course not. Just like every other state, Tennessee has its least desirable spots. The purpose of this post is to use science and data to determine which cities are the worst you could possibly live in if you make Tennessee your home.

After analyzing 92 of the state’s most populous cities (over 5,100 people), we came up with this list as the 10 worst places to live in the state of Tennessee:

The 10 Worst Places To Live In Tennessee For 2023

  1. Ripley
  2. Bolivar
  3. Rockwood
  4. Covington
  5. Crossville
  6. Lexington
  7. Humboldt
  8. Morristown
  9. Fayetteville
  10. Sweetwater

Where are these places, you wonder? And before you get all riled up and say we’re picking on small towns in Tennessee, that’s not the case.

We understand there’s a lot of good in every place. For example, the best place to live in Tennessee is Germantown.

However, according to data (which doesn’t measure things like beauty and ‘friendly people’), the state has far better options for making a place home. And the worst place to live in Tennessee? The worst place to live in Tennessee is Ripley.

Read below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your city fared in 2023.

If you’re looking for something more national, check out the worst cities in America or the worst states in America.

For more Tennessee reading, check out:


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


The 10 Worst Places To Live In Tennessee For 2023

Ripley, TN

Overall SnackAbility

1
/10

Population: 7,856
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Home Value: $99,200
Unemployment Rate: 12.0%
More on Ripley:  Data | Photos

Welcome to Ripley, Tennessee, where more people are out of work than anywhere else in the state. 1 in 8.3 people is without a job, and families bring in a combined $35,634 a year.

Crime is the 15th highest in Tennessee, where you have a 1 in 32.3 chance of being the victim of a property crime, and every year, you have a 1 in 57 chance of being raped, attacked or murdered when you’re within Ripley city limits.

Plus, they’re completely isolated out here, What do you do for entertainment when you’re an hour north of the nearest Memphis suburbs?

Bolivar, TN

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,177
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 1)
Median Home Value: $97,400
Unemployment Rate: 21.7%
More on Bolivar:  Data | Photos

Bolivar is named for a famous revolutionary, Simón Bolívar, the same guy who lends his name to the country of Bolivia. A revolution might not be necessary for this southeast Tennessee town, but it definitely could use some change.

Located about an hour and a half outside of Memphis, the economy of Bolivar resembles the proverbial dumpster fire. The unemployment rate checks in at an eye-popping 21.7%, while more than a quarter of the town lives below the poverty line.

There are some bright spots. The surrounding landscape can be breathtaking, including the nearby Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge.

Rockwood, TN

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,492
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 8)
Median Home Value: $98,800
Unemployment Rate: 9.9%
More on Rockwood:  Data | Photos

Rockwood serves as the childhood home of Hollywood actress Megan Fox. It’s lucky she got out of town.

In a parallel universe, Megan is struggling with four kids in a town where 20% of the residents live below the poverty line. She’s also likely earning below $35,000 and worrying about a crime rate more than 140% above the national average. Suddenly, starring in a couple Transformers movies doesn’t seem so bad.

Still, it isn’t all bad in Rockwood. Watts Bar Lake is just to the south of town, offering parallel-universe Megan Fox amazing views and access to excellent water activities.

Covington, TN

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 8,666
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 1)
Median Home Value: $118,900
Unemployment Rate: 7.6%
More on Covington:  Data | Photos

Covington is just down the road from Ripley. Here, the public schools are some of the least funded in the state. If you value a good education, this isn’t a place for you. Kids who attend Covington public schools see the 10th lowest spending levels in terms of per-student ratios and teacher to student ratios.

Crime is far above average here, and the unemployment rate is 7.6%, which is the 22nd highest in Tennessee. And, as you can imagine, many of the folks in Covington live at or below the poverty line.

Crossville, TN

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 11,892
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 4)
Median Home Value: $188,400
Unemployment Rate: 11.3%
More on Crossville:  Data | Photos

Somewhere west of Knoxville along I-40 is the small city of Crossville, where you have a 1 in 10 chance of being robbed every year. If you’re passing through, lock your doors and don’t talk to strangers.

Folks in Crossville earn under $30,000 a year, and you can imagine, many live at or below the poverty line. And the public schools are in the bottom 10% when it comes to spending levels.

What makes it worse is the cost of living is higher here than is most of the other cities on this list. Meaning, owning a home here is really a lot harder. Who wants to overpay to live in’Crossville?

Lexington, TN

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 7,849
Rank Last Year: 20 (Up 14)
Median Home Value: $142,100
Unemployment Rate: 11.3%
More on Lexington:  Data | Photos

Humboldt, TN

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 7,899
Rank Last Year: 16 (Up 9)
Median Home Value: $93,200
Unemployment Rate: 7.4%
More on Humboldt:  Data | Photos

Humboldt has the second-highest unemployment rate in Tennessee, (9.1%), but the residents earn a little more each year. The average family brings in enough to live just above the poverty line, but overall, many people here are simply broke.

Homes go for an average of $76,000. That’s the 4th lowest in the state. Say what you want about ‘cheap living,’ the fact is, homes are priced by demand, and there’s no demand to live in Humboldt.

Other factors: Crime is the 13th worst in Tennessee, and schools here are far below the state average when it comes to support for students.

Humboldt is a short drive north of Jackson.

Morristown, TN

Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 30,387
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 4)
Median Home Value: $121,900
Unemployment Rate: 8.4%
More on Morristown:  Data | Photos

Come to Morristown for a taste of American History. Davy Crockett once ran a tavern in town. You can still see a recreation of the establishment at the Crockett Tavern Museum.

How about life in modern Morristown? Not so tasty. This community in the northeast part of the state, about an hour outside of Knoxville, has serious problems.

More than a quarter of the town lives below the poverty line. That comes as a result of a 8.4% unemployment rate and a $36,495 median income. Housing and education fall below expectations. Meanwhile, the crime rate more than doubles the national average.

Fayetteville, TN

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,988
Rank Last Year: 23 (Up 14)
Median Home Value: $153,300
Unemployment Rate: 6.4%
More on Fayetteville:  Data | Photos

Sweetwater, TN

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,228
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 5)
Median Home Value: $130,200
Unemployment Rate: 9.0%
More on Sweetwater:  Data | Photos

Sweetwater is famous for its caves. Check out the Craighead Caverns, gateway to an underground lake known a the Lost Sea.

Life above ground doesn’t hold the same kind of adventure. Rather, day-to-day existence in Sweetwater might make you want to go hide in one of those darkened caverns. The town struggles with a 9.0% unemployment rate and a $37,721 median income.

Sitting along I-75, between Knoxville and Chattanooga in the east-central part of the state, Sweetwater also faces problems related to housing, education and crime.

Methodology: How we determined the worst places to live in Tennessee for 2023

To figure out the worst places to live in Tennessee, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.

We don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that people like the following things:

  • Good education
  • Lots of jobs
  • Low crime
  • Low poverty
  • Nice homes
  • High incomes
  • High population density (Lots of things to do)
  • Short work commutes
  • Health insurance

The data comes from the Census’s most recent American Community Survey and the FBI Uniform Crime Report.

We broke crime down into violent crime and property crime to give violent crime a more significant weight. If you did a simple calculation of all crimes per capita, property crimes are typically 7x more common and bias that ranking.

Furthermore, only cities with at least 5,000 people were considered — leaving 92 cities.

We then ranked each city from 1 to 92 for all the criteria, with a #1 ranking being the worst for the particular criteria.

Next, we averaged the rankings into one “Worst Place To Live Score.”

Finally, we ranked every city on the “Worst Place To Live Score,” with the lowest score being the worst city in Tennessee — Ripley. Read on for a detailed look at the ten worst cities in Tennessee.

Editor’s Note: This article is an opinion based on facts meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2023. This is our tenth time ranking the worst places to live in Tennessee.

Summary: Wrapping Up The Worst In Tennessee

If you’re looking at areas in Tennessee with the worst economic situations, where there’s higher than average crime and little to do, this is an accurate list.

And in the end, Ripley ranks as the worst city to live in Tennessee for 2023.

If you’re curious enough, here are the best cities to live in Tennessee:

  1. Brentwood (Pop. 44,354)
  2. Signal Mountain (Pop. 8,770)
  3. Germantown (Pop. 40,955)

For more Tennessee reading, check out:

Worst Places To Live In Tennessee?

Rank City Population Unemployment Rate Home Value
1 Ripley 7,856 12.0% $99,200
2 Bolivar 5,177 21.7% $97,400
3 Rockwood 5,492 9.9% $98,800
4 Covington 8,666 7.6% $118,900
5 Crossville 11,892 11.3% $188,400
6 Lexington 7,849 11.3% $142,100
7 Humboldt 7,899 7.4% $93,200
8 Morristown 30,387 8.4% $121,900
9 Fayetteville 6,988 6.4% $153,300
10 Sweetwater 6,228 9.0% $130,200
11 Brownsville 9,807 10.4% $94,300
12 Pigeon Forge 6,362 1.3% $187,100
13 Madisonville 5,059 7.9% $144,300
14 Newport 6,845 13.4% $99,200
15 Lawrenceburg 11,460 11.3% $119,800
16 Memphis 634,139 9.0% $113,700
17 Dunlap 5,252 4.9% $114,000
18 Millington 10,583 9.1% $134,500
19 Athens 13,961 6.4% $163,500
20 Lafayette 5,458 4.0% $116,500
21 McMinnville 13,699 4.5% $111,100
22 La Follette 7,384 21.1% $89,900
23 Shelbyville 23,005 4.8% $140,300
24 Alcoa 10,777 4.0% $167,100
25 Sevierville 18,038 2.1% $223,800
26 Lewisburg 12,131 9.0% $128,500
27 Dyersburg 16,235 8.7% $134,600
28 Chattanooga 180,353 5.2% $189,500
29 Dickson 15,855 7.2% $180,500
30 Manchester 11,956 1.4% $163,400
31 Springfield 18,561 6.9% $174,400
32 Savannah 7,157 2.3% $121,700
33 Bristol 27,154 10.0% $139,900
34 Elizabethton 14,112 7.3% $132,200
35 Jackson 67,753 8.5% $149,000
36 Portland 13,031 4.6% $173,900
37 Cookeville 34,068 7.2% $200,300
38 Pulaski 8,163 6.5% $123,900
39 Lakeland 13,693 4.2% $292,600
40 Winchester 9,299 3.7% $159,800
41 Henderson 6,232 6.2% $97,700
42 Kingsport 55,019 6.0% $155,700
43 Paris 10,332 2.7% $105,300
44 Arlington 14,158 3.2% $282,800
45 Cleveland 46,747 4.5% $193,300
46 Knoxville 189,339 5.3% $154,500
47 Soddy-Daisy 13,090 4.2% $169,300
48 Dayton 7,112 5.5% $106,100
49 Columbia 40,957 3.4% $187,900
50 East Ridge 21,967 6.3% $141,800
51 La Vergne 38,127 4.5% $207,800
52 Greeneville 15,361 8.9% $164,600
53 Oak Ridge 31,087 4.6% $170,800
54 Millersville 6,099 3.0% $199,800
55 Martin 10,536 5.6% $135,000
56 Milan 8,143 4.7% $105,700
57 McKenzie 5,590 4.7% $116,900
58 Harriman 5,936 2.0% $116,200
59 Lebanon 37,471 4.0% $277,800
60 Tullahoma 20,599 3.9% $167,700
61 Smyrna 52,401 5.3% $239,100
62 Fairview 9,299 1.9% $279,400
63 Clinton 9,982 4.0% $166,900
64 Clarksville 163,518 6.2% $172,700
65 Goodlettsville 17,522 4.6% $263,100
66 Church Hill 6,973 11.2% $149,800
67 Murfreesboro 148,970 4.5% $274,600
68 Kingston 5,942 6.0% $176,300
69 Gallatin 43,306 2.7% $252,300
70 Atoka 9,863 5.0% $217,500
71 Thompson’s Station 7,011 3.9% $415,400
72 Munford 6,269 5.0% $196,200
73 Mount Carmel 5,460 7.8% $156,500
74 Red Bank 11,855 3.2% $181,200
75 Erwin 6,052 3.5% $127,500
76 Oakland 8,805 2.9% $195,300
77 White House 12,820 2.5% $244,300
78 Collegedale 10,973 3.3% $267,400
79 Greenbrier 6,845 1.2% $251,500
80 Farragut 23,388 1.9% $398,900
81 Jonesborough 5,747 0.3% $185,300
82 Mount Juliet 38,059 3.3% $313,100
83 Bartlett 57,639 4.4% $212,700
84 Hendersonville 60,628 5.0% $304,200
85 Spring Hill 48,403 1.4% $335,800
86 Nolensville 13,393 1.3% $496,500
87 Maryville 31,281 3.8% $227,100
88 Franklin 81,531 3.2% $468,200
89 Collierville 50,669 3.0% $352,200
90 Brentwood 44,354 2.2% $711,900
91 Signal Mountain 8,770 2.3% $360,000
92 Germantown 40,955 2.9% $358,600

About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.