Best PlacesCordova, TN Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Cordova, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Cordova ranks 1,259th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.

#1,259
of 2,098 cities
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 2,098 cities
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Cordova

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Cordova area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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 Cordova

The parts of Cordova, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.

#1

Cordova-Appling

WorseBetter
66th nationally
#2

Eads-Fisherville

WorseBetter
50th nationally
#3

River Oaks-Kirby-Balmoral

WorseBetter
36th nationally

Cordova shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 15% of the country and others in the top 5%. Pick the area first, then the home.


Cordova's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%State finances
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Cordova with other cities.

Where Cordova ranks high

  • State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of cities
  • QuietBetter than 86% of cities
  • State infrastructureBetter than 83% of cities
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of cities
  • Cheap childcare$811 a month, better than 80% of cities

Where Cordova ranks low

  • Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
  • School gradeD+, better than only 12% of cities
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 20% of cities
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 24% of cities
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 26% of cities

What it costs to buy a home in Cordova

A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cordova home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,153, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$77,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,787
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $290,402 home
Median rent
$1,800
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,481
Property tax$210
Homeowners insurance$97

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 Cordova's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Cordova

Cordova's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
39
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
14%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3424%
35 to 4921%
50 to 6420%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cordova.


Who works in Cordova, and how

Work in Cordova centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
13%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.7%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.8%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Retail trade12%
Transportation & warehousing11%
Manufacturing9%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 86%
  • Work from home 13%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in Cordova

Cordova has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 75% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cordova and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
407
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 47.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 76% of cities
Coffee shops
49
about 5.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 81% of cities
Parkland
82 acres
about 0.9 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 75% of cities

What the weather is like in Cordova, month by month

Cordova sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January50°40°33°
April72°61°52°
July91°81°72°
October75°64°54°

Flying in and out of Cordova

Memphis International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.4 million passengers in 2025, with 78 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
MEM
Memphis International, about 14 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
67th-busiest in the US, 78 nonstop destinations
Average drive
20 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Cordova

Schools across Cordova average a D+, better than 12% of cities.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cordova school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Cordova 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 Cordova against the other 2,097 cities.


Who Cordova suits

Families

Schools land around the 12th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of cities and 13% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 66% and it is quieter than 86%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Cordova

Is Cordova a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cordova ranks 1,259th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and state infrastructure, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Cordova expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $290,402. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $93,153 median income, cost of living beats 73% of cities.

Is Cordova safe?

Cordova is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $725 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Cordova?

July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 33. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of cities.

What are the best neighborhoods in Cordova?

Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cordova-Appling, Eads-Fisherville, and River Oaks-Kirby-Balmoral. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.


Compare Cordova with other cities


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cordova. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cordova 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.

Cordova detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Cordova: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Cordova: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Cordova: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Cordova: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Cordova detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.