Best PlacesCookeville, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cookeville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cookeville ranks 1,526th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cookeville
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.
Cookeville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cookeville ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of cities
- Short commute20.6 minutes each way, better than 84% of cities
Where Cookeville ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 8% of cities
- Household income$60,473 median, better than only 9% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Cookeville
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cookeville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,473, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Cookeville's effective rate of 0.48%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cookeville
Cookeville runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cookeville.
Who works in Cookeville, and how
Work in Cookeville centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cookeville
Cookeville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cookeville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cookeville, month by month
Cookeville sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Cookeville
Nashville International sits about 66 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.6 million passengers in 2025, with 158 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cookeville
Schools across Cookeville average a B−, better than 48% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Capshaw ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Northfield Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Prescott South ElementaryB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Livingston Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Algood Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Prescott South Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Cookeville High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Upperman High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- White County High SchoolB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cookeville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cookeville 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 Cookeville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Cookeville suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cookeville
Is Cookeville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cookeville ranks 1,526th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state finances, low property taxes, and fast internet, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cookeville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $282,505. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $60,473 median income, cost of living beats 21% of cities.
Is Cookeville safe?
Cookeville is safer than 48% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $423 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cookeville?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 28. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 15% of cities.
Is Cookeville good for families?
Schools beat 48% of cities, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $789 a month.
Compare Cookeville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cookeville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cookeville 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.
Cookeville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cookeville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cookeville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cookeville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cookeville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cookeville 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.
- 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.