Best PlacesBlount County, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Blount County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blount County ranks 561st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state finances and a strong job market. The weaker spots are the weather, an overheated housing market, and walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Blount County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Blount County
The parts of Blount County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Louisville
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Friendsville
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Seymour, Rockford & Walland
It is quieter.
Maryville
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Townsend
Schools score lower.
Alcoa
Homes cost less, though crime runs higher.
Scores across Blount County run from about the 19th to the 92nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Blount County's strengths and weaknesses
Blount County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. State finances, a strong job market, and what local pay buys carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, an overheated housing market, and walkability hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Blount County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 93% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of counties
Where Blount County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 24% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 32% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Blount County
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blount County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,300, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Blount County's effective rate of 0.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Blount County
Blount County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Blount County.
Who works in Blount County, and how
Work in Blount County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Blount County
Blount County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Blount County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Blount County growing, and who is moving in?
Blount County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Knoxville, TN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Blount County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Blount County, month by month
Blount County sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Blount County
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blount County
Schools across Blount County average a B, better than 73% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sam Houston ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Carpenters Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Foothills ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montgomery Ridge Intermediate SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Coulter Grove Intermediate SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Carpenters Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Alcoa High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Robbinsville HighB · 48% proficient
- William Blount High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blount County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blount County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Blount County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Blount County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Blount County
Is Blount County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blount County ranks 561st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, a strong job market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on the weather and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blount County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $313,888. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $80,300 median income, cost of living beats 90% of counties.
Is Blount County safe?
Yes, Blount County is safer than 78% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $354 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Blount County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 29. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 11% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Blount County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Louisville, Friendsville, and Seymour, Rockford & Walland. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Blount County good for families?
Schools beat 73% of counties, crime safety beats 78%, and childcare runs $811 a month.
Is Blount County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 84% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Blount County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blount County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blount County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Blount County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blount County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blount County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blount County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blount County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blount County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.