LivingCostFacts / state

Tennessee cost of living

Tennessee has an all-items price parity of 91.9 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

91.9
All-items price level

BEA 2024; U.S. = 100

$69,595
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$286,700
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

$1,381
Typical 2BR benchmark

Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027

Read the local picture

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.

Tennessee: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items91.9
  2. Goods96.2
  3. Housing rents79.1
  4. Utilities72.1
  5. Other services95.1
0100.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Put the benchmark in context

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$1,141
  2. 1 bedroom$1,196
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,381
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,771
  5. 4 bedrooms$2,054
0$2,054

Income after benchmark rent is $53,022 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.

The data in view

Price levels relative to the U.S.

BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.

View chart data
Period or categoryValue
200891.7
200990.5
201092.4
201192.9
201293.4
201393.0
201492.8
201592.8
201693.8
201793.0
201889.6
201991.3
202090.5
202190.6
202291.8
202392.1
202491.9

Price levels by category

Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.

Category2024 RPP
All items91.9
Goods96.2
Housing rents79.1
Utilities72.1
Other services95.1

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$1,141
1 bedroom$1,196
2 bedrooms$1,381
3 bedrooms$1,771
4 bedrooms$2,054

County cost comparison

Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.

County or equivalent2BR rent / monthMedian household incomeRent / income
Anderson County$1,475$66,18326.7%
Bedford County$1,112$67,22519.8%
Benton County$995$51,74623.1%
Bledsoe County$1,086$54,72023.8%
Blount County$1,475$77,36522.9%
Bradley County$1,270$66,55222.9%
Campbell County$995$51,55723.2%
Cannon County$1,798$59,44336.3%
Carroll County$995$51,78723.1%
Carter County$1,211$50,13529.0%
Cheatham County$1,798$89,85224.0%
Chester County$1,375$59,34127.8%
Claiborne County$995$49,37924.2%
Clay County$995$39,97229.9%
Cocke County$995$48,01624.9%
Coffee County$1,088$61,50521.2%
Crockett County$1,093$62,16521.1%
Cumberland County$1,039$60,37520.7%
Davidson County$1,798$77,85327.7%
DeKalb County$1,016$53,15322.9%
Decatur County$995$45,37526.3%
Dickson County$1,798$75,00328.8%
Dyer County$995$58,15420.5%
Fayette County$1,301$88,45617.6%
Fentress County$995$51,14923.3%
Franklin County$1,060$63,49420.0%
Gibson County$995$62,75519.0%
Giles County$1,105$62,30721.3%
Grainger County$995$50,53823.6%
Greene County$995$56,19421.2%
Grundy County$995$47,59325.1%
Hamblen County$1,153$55,45425.0%
Hamilton County$1,340$76,18321.1%
Hancock County$995$34,96034.2%
Hardeman County$995$46,06925.9%
Hardin County$995$49,95623.9%
Hawkins County$1,091$56,93623.0%
Haywood County$995$50,47223.7%
Henderson County$995$55,13621.7%
Henry County$1,011$50,61324.0%
Hickman County$1,028$68,24718.1%
Houston County$995$59,57620.0%
Humphreys County$1,055$60,61620.9%
Jackson County$995$47,95124.9%
Jefferson County$1,153$66,11420.9%
Johnson County$995$53,12922.5%
Knox County$1,475$74,22223.8%
Lake County$995$28,81441.4%
Lauderdale County$995$49,87923.9%
Lawrence County$1,008$54,70622.1%
Lewis County$995$56,28521.2%
Lincoln County$995$64,66718.5%
Loudon County$1,475$84,18521.0%
Macon County$995$59,17720.2%
Madison County$1,375$60,04227.5%
Marion County$1,340$61,82426.0%
Marshall County$1,106$71,04918.7%
Maury County$1,474$76,13023.2%
McMinn County$995$61,47019.4%
McNairy County$995$53,47322.3%
Meigs County$1,045$61,37520.4%
Monroe County$995$56,89521.0%
Montgomery County$1,307$75,61320.7%
Moore County$995$66,46918.0%
Morgan County$995$65,95418.1%
Obion County$995$54,61321.9%
Overton County$995$48,95924.4%
Perry County$995$55,97221.3%
Pickett County$995$49,03024.4%
Polk County$1,270$62,52224.4%
Putnam County$1,102$58,91222.4%
Rhea County$1,059$55,03323.1%
Roane County$1,048$71,88517.5%
Robertson County$1,798$83,04726.0%
Rutherford County$1,798$85,47025.2%
Scott County$995$44,71126.7%
Sequatchie County$1,340$58,75027.4%
Sevier County$1,213$62,58123.3%
Shelby County$1,301$63,76724.5%
Smith County$1,146$66,29320.7%
Stewart County$995$63,11418.9%
Sullivan County$1,091$58,80722.3%
Sumner County$1,798$90,30123.9%
Tipton County$1,301$74,12721.1%
Trousdale County$1,798$72,74729.7%
Unicoi County$1,211$52,21827.8%
Union County$1,475$62,72728.2%
Van Buren County$995$54,93121.7%
Warren County$1,051$55,48722.7%
Washington County$1,211$62,80923.1%
Wayne County$995$52,29422.8%
Weakley County$995$51,88023.0%
White County$1,021$52,18823.5%
Williamson County$1,798$135,59415.9%
Wilson County$1,798$95,83922.5%

Metros with member counties in Tennessee

BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.

Metro areaAll-items RPPHousing RPP2BR rent / month
Chattanooga, TN-GA91.576.5$1,340
Clarksville, TN-KY90.973.8$1,294
Cleveland, TN88.160.3$1,270
Jackson, TN85.556.6$1,247
Johnson City, TN87.963.2$1,211
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA86.456.5$1,091
Knoxville, TN92.682.8$1,406
Memphis, TN-MS-AR92.279.8$1,289
Morristown, TN86.459.0$1,153
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN96.3104.6$1,755