Best PlacesMemphis, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Memphis 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 Thomas R Machnitzki ( thomas machnitzki.com, CC BY 3.0, via commons
Memphis ranks 359th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on crime and the schools. It does better on state finances, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Memphis 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 Memphis
The towns and districts of the Memphis 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.
Germantown & Collierville
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Cordova, Arlington & Covington
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Olive Branch, Holly Springs & Byhalia
Heat risk is lower, though biking is worse.
Southaven, Hernando & Senatobia
Schools score higher, though tree cover is thinner.
Downtown Memphis
Transit reaches more jobs, though fewer residents vote.
Bartlett & Millington
More households have young kids, though health outcomes score lower.
Horn Lake & Walls
Homes cost less.
Marion
It is noisier and health care is harder to reach.
West Memphis
Streets are more walkable, though prices have run up more.
Memphis shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Memphis' strengths and weaknesses
Memphis ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. State finances, low taxes, and what local pay buys carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: crime, the schools, and civic engagement all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Memphis ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 76% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 71% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 71% of metro areas
Where Memphis ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- School gradeC−, better than only 13% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 19% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Memphis
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Memphis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,953, 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 Memphis' effective rate of 0.85%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Memphis
Memphis runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Memphis.
Who works in Memphis, and how
Work in Memphis centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Memphis
Memphis has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Memphis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Memphis growing, and who is moving in?
Memphis has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Nashville, TN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Memphis go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Memphis, month by month
Memphis sees roughly 71 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 and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 32° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 79° | 66° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Memphis
Memphis International sits about 5 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 Memphis
Schools across Memphis average a C−, better than 13% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Crosswind Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Dogwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Farmington Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lewisburg MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- Hernando Middle SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- Maxine Smith Steam AcademyA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Lewisburg High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Middle College HighA · 70% proficient
- Hernando High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Memphis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Memphis 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 Memphis against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Memphis suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 76% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Memphis
Is Memphis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Memphis ranks 359th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, low taxes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Memphis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,150. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $78,953 median income, cost of living beats 76% of metro areas.
Is Memphis safe?
Memphis is safer than 0% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,047 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Memphis?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 32. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Memphis?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Germantown & Collierville, Cordova, Arlington & Covington, and Olive Branch, Holly Springs & Byhalia. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Memphis good for families?
Schools beat 13% of metro areas, crime safety beats 0%, and childcare runs $765 a month.
Is Memphis good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 76% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 71% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Memphis with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Memphis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Memphis 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.
Memphis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Memphis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Memphis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Memphis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Memphis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Memphis 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.