Best PlacesLookout Mountain, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lookout Mountain, 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.
Lookout Mountain ranks 148th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lookout Mountain
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.
Lookout Mountain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lookout Mountain ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$186,751 median, better than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
Where Lookout Mountain ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lookout Mountain
A household needs to earn about $219,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lookout Mountain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $186,751, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Lookout Mountain's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Lookout Mountain
Lookout Mountain runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lookout Mountain.
Who works in Lookout Mountain, and how
Work in Lookout Mountain centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lookout Mountain
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lookout Mountain.
What the weather is like in Lookout Mountain, month by month
Lookout Mountain sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 32° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Lookout Mountain
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lookout Mountain
Schools across Lookout Mountain average a B, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lookout Mountain ElementaryA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chattanooga Valley Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Howard Connect AcademyD− · 17% proficient
- Orchard Knob MiddleF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lookout Mountain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lookout Mountain 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 Lookout Mountain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lookout Mountain
Is Lookout Mountain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lookout Mountain ranks 148th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, fast internet, and what local pay buys, and lowest on air quality and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lookout Mountain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $845,948. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $186,751 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Lookout Mountain safe?
Yes, Lookout Mountain is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
Compare Lookout Mountain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lookout Mountain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lookout Mountain 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.
Lookout Mountain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lookout Mountain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lookout Mountain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lookout Mountain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lookout Mountain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lookout Mountain 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.