Best PlacesMountain City, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mountain City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mountain City ranks 29,230th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mountain City
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.
Mountain City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mountain City ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap childcare$564 a month, better than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
Where Mountain City ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of towns
- Household income$56,000 median, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mountain City
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mountain City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,000, 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 Mountain City's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 Mountain City
Mountain City runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mountain City.
Who works in Mountain City, and how
Work in Mountain City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Mountain City
Mountain City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Mountain City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mountain City, month by month
Mountain City sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Mountain City
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mountain City
Schools across Mountain City average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain City ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Doe ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Roan Creek ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Johnson Co Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Johnson Co High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mountain City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mountain City 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 Mountain City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mountain City
Is Mountain City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mountain City ranks 29,230th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low property taxes, and low taxes, and lowest on health outcomes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mountain City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $206,441. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $56,000 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Mountain City safe?
Mountain City is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $415 per resident a year.
Compare Mountain City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mountain City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mountain City 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.
Mountain City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mountain City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mountain City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mountain City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mountain City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mountain City 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.