Best PlacesKingsport, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Kingsport metro, 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.
Photo by Tennessee Valley Authority, via commons
Kingsport ranks 290th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on biking and health outcomes. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Kingsport metro
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 Kingsport
The towns and districts of the Kingsport metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Abingdon & Bristol
Schools score higher, crime runs lower, and heat risk is lower.
Bluff City, Piney Flats & Blountville
Fewer homes sit empty and local pay stretches further.
Bristol
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Church Hill & Mount Carmel
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Downtown Kingsport
Nickelsville
It is quieter, though incomes run lower.
Rogersville
Fewer adults hold degrees and health care is harder to reach.
Gate City & Duffield
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
Kingsport shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 5%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Kingsport's strengths and weaknesses
Kingsport lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk, state finances, and tree cover carry most of that.
The one real hole is biking, near the bottom of the country. Health outcomes and low incomes also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Kingsport ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$686 a month, better than 81% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of metro areas
Where Kingsport ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Household income$61,329 median, better than only 4% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Kingsport
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kingsport home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,329, 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 Kingsport's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kingsport
Kingsport runs older 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 Kingsport.
Who works in Kingsport, and how
Work in Kingsport centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kingsport
Kingsport has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 91% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kingsport and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Kingsport growing, and who is moving in?
Kingsport has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Johnson City, TN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Kingsport go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Kingsport, month by month
Kingsport sees roughly 73 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 Kingsport
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kingsport
Schools across Kingsport average a B, better than 80% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Ridge ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- John Adams Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gate City MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- Liberty Bell Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Ross N. Robinson Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Gate City HighA · 73% proficient
- Dobyns - Bennett High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Daniel Boone High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kingsport school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kingsport 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 Kingsport against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Kingsport suits
Common questions about living in Kingsport
Is Kingsport a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kingsport ranks 290th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low disaster risk, state finances, and tree cover, and lowest on biking and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kingsport expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,234. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $61,329 median income, cost of living beats 9% of metro areas.
Is Kingsport safe?
Kingsport is safer than 37% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $470 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kingsport?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 27. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kingsport?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Abingdon & Bristol, Bluff City, Piney Flats & Blountville, and Bristol. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Kingsport good for families?
Schools beat 80% of metro areas, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $686 a month.
Is Kingsport good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 9% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 14% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Kingsport with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kingsport. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kingsport 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.
Kingsport detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kingsport: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kingsport: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kingsport: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kingsport: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kingsport 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.