Best PlacesRiceville, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riceville, 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.
Riceville ranks 24,776th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Riceville
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.
Riceville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riceville ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap childcare$564 a month, better than 84% of towns
Where Riceville ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 17% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 18% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Riceville
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riceville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,880, 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 Riceville's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 Riceville
Riceville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Riceville.
Who works in Riceville, and how
Work in Riceville centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Riceville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Riceville.
What the weather is like in Riceville, month by month
Riceville sees roughly 62 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 Riceville
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Riceville
Schools across Riceville average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riceville ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Calhoun ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Rogers Creek ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Meigs Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Polk County High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mcminn High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Walker Valley High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riceville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riceville 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 Riceville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Riceville
Is Riceville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riceville ranks 24,776th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low property taxes, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Riceville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,758. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $68,880 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Riceville safe?
Yes, Riceville is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
Compare Riceville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riceville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riceville 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.
Riceville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riceville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riceville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riceville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riceville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riceville 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.