What is Kingsport-Bristol's Life Score?

Kingsport-Bristol scores 48.7/100 (grade B-), rank #214 of 387. Signature cost at the 93rd percentile; stamps MID · COST-LED · cost FLOOR · wages LOW.

What pulls Kingsport-Bristol up or down?

Strongest: cost of living (93/100). Weakest: safety (3/100). Profile mark COST-LED; dimension gap 90.

How current is this data?

Federal releases current as of August 2026 (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA). Cadence varies by series; see methodology.

Metro Life Score

Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA

Below-median composite Life Score — grade B-, 45th percentile of the national corpus.

Compiled by PlainCompare

48.7
Life Score / 100: B-
Grade (curved): #214
of 387 metros: 45%
composite percentile

View your shortlist

Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Kingsport-Bristol is below-median composite Life Score — #214 of 387 (48.7/100, grade B-, 45th percentile). Carried by cost of living at 93/100; held back most by safety at 3/100.

45th
composite percentile: #214
of 387 peers: 93rd
cost dimension percentile: 12th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · COST-LED · signature cost

Kingsport-Bristol: affordability leads the Life Score story

Kingsport-Bristol is a MID-band metro whose cost dimension sits at the 93rd percentile of 387 US metros (FLOOR) while composite is #214 (48.7/100, grade B-). Cost of Living at 93/100 carries the upside; Safety at 3/100 is the residual drag. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA ranks #214 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #28 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

BEA RPP 86.4 (rent-RPP 56.5). BLS median salary $57,656, 111,690 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons, Cashiers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,044/mo (studio $720).

FBI UCR (TN): 602 violent, 2058 property/100K. NCES: 15.2:1 ratio, 6.2% charter. DOL infant childcare $7,860/yr. EPA: 26 Superfund sites (TN).

Where Kingsport-Bristol sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

49 45th percentile higher than 45% of 387 US metros

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026

How the 48.7 is built

Kingsport-Bristol's Life Score, decomposed

Cost of Living 18.6 (38%) Wages 2.4 (5%) Rent 13.3 (27%) Safety 0.4 (1%) Schools 5.3 (11%) Childcare 6.7 (14%) Environment 1.9 (4%)

Dimension detail

How Kingsport-Bristol scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 93/100 (20%) Top 10%

Wages 12/100 (20%) Below average

Rent 89/100 (15%) Above average

Safety 3/100 (15%) Bottom 10%

Schools 53/100 (10%) Average

Childcare 67/100 (10%) Average

Environment 19/100 (10%) Below average

Key Data Points

86.4

Cost Index (RPP)

$57,656

Avg Median Salary

$1,044

2BR Fair Market Rent

602

Violent Crime/100K (TN)

15.2:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$7,860

Infant Childcare/yr (TN)

Superfund Sites (TN)

111,690

Total Employment

Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are TN state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.

Compare Kingsport-Bristol With...

Kingsport-Bristol vs Morristown Compare → Kingsport-Bristol vs Memphis Compare → Kingsport-Bristol vs Jackson Compare → Kingsport-Bristol vs Paducah Compare → Kingsport-Bristol vs Pocatello Compare → Kingsport-Bristol vs Wildwood Compare →

Ranking Context

Kingsport-Bristol outranks 45% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#211	Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI	48.9	B-
#212	Michigan City-La Porte, IN	48.9	B-
#213	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	49.0	B-
#214	Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA	48.7	B-
#215	Bloomington, IL	48.7	B-
#216	Charlottesville, VA	48.3	B-
#217	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	48.2	B-

Quality vs. Affordability

Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA is bottom 45% lowest-quality nationally and also top 7% most affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.

Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA (highlighted) among its 12 nearest composite-Life-Score peers, out of 387 tracked metros nationally. Crosshairs mark this peer neighborhood's own median composite score and cost-of-living score. Cost-of-living score is already inverted so higher = more affordable.

TN Metro Scores

Morristown, TN C+ 45.7 Memphis, TN-MS-AR C 45.5 Jackson, TN C 45.3 Johnson City, TN C 45.1 Cleveland, TN C- 41.3 Chattanooga, TN-GA C- 40.8

Read with Kingsport-Bristol

Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Kingsport-Bristol (MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.

Bloomington, IL

ABS(composite) peer at 48.7 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.

Michigan City-La Porte, IN

ABS(composite) peer at 48.9 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.

Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI

ABS(composite) peer at 48.9 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.

Columbia, MO

ABS(composite) peer at 49.0 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.

Sioux City, IA-NE-SD (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 93/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.

St. Joseph, MO-KS (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 93/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.

Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA relocation guide

Stamp-branched guide for MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.

Using Kingsport-Bristol's middle-third Life Score

Kingsport-Bristol scores 48.7/100 overall, but Cost of Living (93.0) and Safety (2.8) sit 90.2 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.

Cost of Living is the strongest of Kingsport-Bristol's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
Safety is the weakest (weighted 15% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
Morristown is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Morristown

A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Kingsport-Bristol Life Score 48.7/100 · signature cost · retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr