Metro Life Score
Knoxville, TN
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C-, 11th percentile of the national corpus.
- 40.0
- Life Score / 100
- C-
- Grade (curved)
- #345
- of 387 metros
- 11%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Knoxville is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #345 of 387 (40.0/100, grade C-, 11th percentile). Carried by childcare at 67/100; held back most by safety at 3/100.
- 11th
- composite percentile
- #345
- of 387 peers
- 59th
- cost dimension percentile
- 45th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · BALANCED · signature composite
Knoxville: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Knoxville sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#345 of 387, 40.0/100, 11th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · BALANCED; Safety at 3/100 is the main drag; Childcare (67/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks MID/MID. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Knoxville, TN ranks #345 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #160 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 92.6 (rent-RPP 82.8). BLS median salary $63,333, 415,720 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand). HUD 2BR FMR $1,471/mo (studio $1,177).
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 Knoxville sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
40 11th percentile higher than 11% 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 40.0 is built
Knoxville's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Knoxville scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
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 Knoxville With...
Ranking Context
Knoxville outranks 11% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #342 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 40.1 | C- |
| #343 | Kankakee, IL | 40.3 | C- |
| #344 | Flagstaff, AZ | 40.3 | C- |
| #345 | Knoxville, TN | 40.0 | C- |
| #346 | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 40.0 | C- |
| #347 | Gettysburg, PA | 40.0 | C- |
| #348 | Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | 39.9 | C- |
Quality vs. Affordability
Knoxville, TN is bottom 11% lowest-quality nationally and also top 41% most affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
TN Metro Scores
Read with Knoxville
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Knoxville (BOTTOM · BALANCED · MID/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO
ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · MID/MID.
Gettysburg, PA
ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · MID/MID.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 39.9 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · MID/MID.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 40.1 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · MID/MID.
Fort Wayne, IN (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 59/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp MID vs this metro's MID.
Waco, TX (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 59/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp MID vs this metro's MID.
Knoxville, TN relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · BALANCED · MID/MID - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Knoxville's bottom-third Life Score
Knoxville scores 40.0/100 overall, but Childcare (67.1) and Safety (2.6) sit 64.5 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Childcare is the strongest of Knoxville's seven dimensions (weighted 10% 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
- Kingsport is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Kingsport
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.