Best PlacesLincoln County, TN Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Lincoln County, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Lincoln County ranks 1,308th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.

#1,308
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Lincoln County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Lincoln County 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.

Lincoln County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%State finances
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Lincoln County with other counties.

Where Lincoln County ranks high

  • State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than 90% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than 83% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$564 a month, better than 80% of counties
  • State infrastructureBetter than 79% of counties

Where Lincoln County ranks low

  • Short commute30.8 minutes each way, better than only 12% of counties
  • BikingBetter than only 13% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of counties
  • Health outlookBetter than only 22% of counties
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Lincoln County

A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lincoln County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,371, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$58,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,359
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $235,038 home
Median rent
$924
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,198
Property tax$83
Homeowners insurance$78

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 Lincoln County's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 9 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 Lincoln County

Lincoln County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
20%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3419%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6420%
65 and older20%

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


Who works in Lincoln County, and how

Work in Lincoln County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
7%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.1%
below the national average
Job growth
+6.7%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing23%
Health care & social11%
Retail trade10%
Education9%
Construction8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 89%
  • Work from home 7%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in Lincoln County

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lincoln County.

Places to eat and drink
168
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 47.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 54% of counties
Coffee shops
16
about 4.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 41% of counties

Is Lincoln County growing, and who is moving in?

Lincoln County has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Nashville, TN.

Population growth
+10%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
36,751
up from 33,443
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Nashville, TN377 / yr
Huntsville, AL252 / yr
Bedford County, TN163 / yr
Clarksville, TN95 / yr
Hardin County, TN70 / yr

Where people leaving Lincoln County go

Huntsville, AL395 / yr
Giles County, TN214 / yr
Franklin County, TN133 / yr
Tyler County, TX112 / yr
Nashville, TN103 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Lincoln County, month by month

Lincoln County sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, 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
January51°41°33°
April73°60°49°
July90°79°70°
October76°62°51°

Flying in and out of Lincoln County

The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 71 miles away.

Nearest airport
HSV
Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, about 34 miles
Airport size
Small hub
110th-busiest in the US, 31 nonstop destinations
Average drive
49 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Lincoln County

Schools across Lincoln County average a B−, better than 69% of counties.

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 Lincoln County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Lincoln County 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 Lincoln County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Lincoln County suits

Families

Schools beat 69% of counties and crime safety beats 72%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

7% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

It is quieter than 78%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Lincoln County

Is Lincoln County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lincoln County ranks 1,308th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Lincoln County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $235,038. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $67,371 median income, cost of living beats 47% of counties.

Is Lincoln County safe?

Yes, Lincoln County is safer than 72% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Lincoln County?

July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 33. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of counties.

Is Lincoln County good for families?

Schools beat 69% of counties, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $564 a month.


Compare Lincoln County with other counties


Sources and methodology

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

Lincoln County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

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

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