Best PlacesFlag Pond, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Flag Pond, 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.
Flag Pond ranks 38,130th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Flag Pond
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.
Flag Pond's strengths and weaknesses
Where Flag Pond ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
Where Flag Pond ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Household income$54,746 median, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Flag Pond
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Flag Pond home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,746, 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 Flag Pond'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Flag Pond
Flag Pond runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Flag Pond.
Who works in Flag Pond, and how
Work in Flag Pond centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Flag Pond
Flag Pond has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Flag Pond and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Flag Pond, month by month
Flag Pond sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 37° | 27° |
| April | 73° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 75° | 59° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Flag Pond
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around Flag Pond
Schools across Flag Pond average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Temple Hill ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Unicoi Co Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Unicoi Co High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Flag Pond school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Flag Pond 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 Flag Pond against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Flag Pond
Is Flag Pond a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Flag Pond ranks 38,130th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a strong job market, and low disaster risk, and lowest on health outcomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Flag Pond expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $171,443. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $54,746 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Flag Pond safe?
Flag Pond is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $426 per resident a year.
Compare Flag Pond with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Flag Pond. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Flag Pond 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.
Flag Pond detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Flag Pond: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Flag Pond: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Flag Pond: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Flag Pond: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Flag Pond 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.