Best PlacesChattanooga, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Chattanooga metro, 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.
Photo by Imilious, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Chattanooga ranks 188th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on fast internet and state finances. The weaker spots are the weather, walkability, and cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in the Chattanooga metro
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 Chattanooga
The towns and districts of the Chattanooga metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Soddy-Daisy, Ooltewah & Hixson
Local pay stretches further, crime runs lower, and incomes run higher.
Downtown Chattanooga
Tree cover is thinner and fewer households have young kids.
Red Bank
More adults hold degrees, though it is noisier.
Ringgold
More residents vote, though biking is worse.
Signal Mountain, Dunlap & Whitwell
Commutes are longer and advertised internet is slower.
Trenton, Lookout Mountain & Flintstone
More homes sit empty and streets are more car-dependent.
East Ridge
Transit reaches more jobs, though prices have run up more.
South Pittsburg
Schools score lower and health outcomes score lower.
Lafayette, Rossville & Chickamauga
Homes cost less.
Chattanooga shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Chattanooga's strengths and weaknesses
Chattanooga lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. State finances and tree cover follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, walkability, and cell coverage hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Chattanooga ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 90% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 78% of metro areas
Where Chattanooga ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 22% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Chattanooga
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chattanooga home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,423, 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 Chattanooga's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chattanooga
Chattanooga's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chattanooga.
Who works in Chattanooga, and how
Work in Chattanooga centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chattanooga
Chattanooga has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chattanooga and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chattanooga growing, and who is moving in?
Chattanooga has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Nashville, TN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Chattanooga go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chattanooga, month by month
Chattanooga sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 32° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Chattanooga
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chattanooga
Schools across Chattanooga average a B−, better than 50% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Lookout Mountain ElementaryA+ · 90% proficient
- Nolan ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
- Thrasher ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
Top middle schools
- Loftis Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
- East Hamilton Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Hunter Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Signal Mountain Middle/high SchoolA · 72% proficient
- East Hamilton High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Stem School ChattanoogaA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chattanooga school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chattanooga 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 Chattanooga against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Chattanooga suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Chattanooga
Is Chattanooga a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chattanooga ranks 188th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on fast internet, state finances, and tree cover, and lowest on the weather and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chattanooga expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,874. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $79,423 median income, cost of living beats 78% of metro areas.
Is Chattanooga safe?
Chattanooga is safer than 48% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $421 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chattanooga?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 32. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 12% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chattanooga?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Soddy-Daisy, Ooltewah & Hixson, Downtown Chattanooga, and Red Bank. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Chattanooga good for families?
Schools beat 50% of metro areas, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $726 a month.
Is Chattanooga good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 100% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Chattanooga with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chattanooga. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chattanooga 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.
Chattanooga detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chattanooga: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chattanooga: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chattanooga: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chattanooga: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chattanooga 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.