Best PlacesGermantown, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Germantown, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Germantown ranks 343rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Germantown
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.
Germantown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Germantown ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of cities
- Household income$160,292 median, better than 94% of cities
Where Germantown ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Germantown
A household needs to earn about $138,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Germantown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $160,292, 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 Germantown's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Germantown
Germantown runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Germantown.
Who works in Germantown, and how
Work in Germantown centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Germantown
Germantown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Germantown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Germantown, month by month
Germantown 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 40° | 33° |
| April | 72° | 61° | 52° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Germantown
Memphis International sits about 11 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.4 million passengers in 2025, with 78 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Germantown
Schools across Germantown average a B, better than 72% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Dogwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Farmington Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Forest Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Houston Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Germantown MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
- Ridgeway MiddleF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Houston High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Germantown HighC · 31% proficient
- Ridgeway HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Germantown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Germantown 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 Germantown against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Germantown suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of cities and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Germantown
Is Germantown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Germantown ranks 343rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on what local pay buys, state finances, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Germantown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $514,002. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $160,292 median income, cost of living beats 99% of cities.
Is Germantown safe?
Germantown is safer than 13% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $612 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Germantown?
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.
Is Germantown good for families?
Schools beat 72% of cities, crime safety beats 13%, and childcare runs $811 a month.
Compare Germantown with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Germantown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Germantown 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.
Germantown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Germantown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Germantown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Germantown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Germantown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Germantown 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.