Best PlacesRural Vale, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rural Vale, 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.
Rural Vale ranks 33,562nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rural Vale
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.
Rural Vale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rural Vale ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
Where Rural Vale ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute35.2 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rural Vale
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rural Vale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,478, 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 Rural Vale's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 Rural Vale
Rural Vale runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rural Vale.
Who works in Rural Vale, and how
Work in Rural Vale centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rural Vale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rural Vale.
What the weather is like in Rural Vale, month by month
Rural Vale sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 73° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 74° | 58° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Rural Vale
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rural Vale
Schools across Rural Vale average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rural Vale ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Coker Creek ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Tellico Plains High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rural Vale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rural Vale 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 Rural Vale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rural Vale
Is Rural Vale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rural Vale ranks 33,562nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rural Vale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,726. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $67,478 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Rural Vale safe?
Rural Vale is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
Compare Rural Vale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rural Vale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rural Vale 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.
Rural Vale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rural Vale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rural Vale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rural Vale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rural Vale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rural Vale 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.