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State Life Score

Tennessee

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C, 25th percentile of the national corpus.

45.3
Life Score / 100
C
Grade (curved)
#38
of 51 states
25%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Tennessee is below-median composite Life Score — #38 of 51 (45.3/100, grade C, 25th percentile). Carried by childcare at 75/100; held back most by safety at 6/100.

25th
composite percentile
#38
of 51 peers
73rd
cost dimension percentile
24th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · LOWER · BALANCED

Tennessee at a glance

Tennessee is a LOWER-band BALANCED state: childcare leads at 75/100 while safety drags at 6/100 (CHEAP cost · LOW wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Tennessee ranks #38 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #14 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Tennessee sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

45 25th percentile higher than 25% of 51 US states

25–30: 1 US states (2%). Below this entry. 30–35: 2 US states (4%). Below this entry. 35–40: 4 US states (8%). Below this entry. 40–45: 6 US states (12%). Below this entry. 45–50: 10 US states (20%). This entry sits in this band. 50–55: 12 US states (24%). Above this entry. 55–60: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 60–65: 4 US states (8%). Above this entry. 65–70: 2 US states (4%). Above this entry. This state 25 70 every US state, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US states. 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

Dimension detail

How Tennessee scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 74/100 (20%)
Wages 24/100 (20%)
Rent 62/100 (15%)
Safety 6/100 (15%)
Schools 66/100 (10%)
Childcare 75/100 (10%)
Environment 14/100 (10%)

Read with Tennessee

Nearest composite peers and cost poles (LOWER · CHEAP/LOW).

Rhode Island

ABS(composite) peer at 45.3 (Δ 0.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Florida

ABS(composite) peer at 45.6 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Colorado

ABS(composite) peer at 45.8 (Δ 0.5 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Alaska

ABS(composite) peer at 44.2 (Δ 1.1 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Missouri (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 76/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.

New Mexico (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 72/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare