Best PlacesFriends Station, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Friends Station, 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.
Friends Station ranks 18,852nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Friends Station
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.
Friends Station's strengths and weaknesses
Where Friends Station ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
Where Friends Station ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 30% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 32% of towns
- Household income$64,342 median, better than only 36% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Friends Station
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Friends Station home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,342, 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 Friends Station's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Friends Station
Friends Station'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 Friends Station.
Who works in Friends Station, and how
Work in Friends Station centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Friends Station
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Friends Station.
What the weather is like in Friends Station, month by month
Friends Station sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Friends Station
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Friends Station
Schools across Friends Station average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Market ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Rush Strong ElementaryC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jefferson Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Jefferson Co High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Carter High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Friends Station school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Friends Station 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 Friends Station against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Friends Station
Is Friends Station a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Friends Station ranks 18,852nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a strong job market, and state finances, and lowest on education levels and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Friends Station expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,834. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $64,342 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Friends Station safe?
Yes, Friends Station is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $349 per resident a year.
Compare Friends Station with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Friends Station. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Friends Station 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.
Friends Station detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Friends Station: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Friends Station: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Friends Station: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Friends Station: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Friends Station 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.